National parks

How many people visit Big Bend National Park?

Big Bend National Park had 568,104 recreation visits in 2025, the 38th most of the 63 national parks. Its busiest year since 1979 was 2021, with 581,220 visits. March and April were its busiest months in 2025, between them 30% of the year's visits.

Visits in 2025

568,104

Up 49% from 381,747 in 2015

Among national parks

38th

most visited of 63

Busiest month of 2025

March

106,911 visits

Recreation visits to Big Bend each year

The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are in the tables below.

Recreation visits to Big Bend each month of 2025

The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are in the tables below.

The numbers

Recreation visits each year, newest first, and each month of 2025.

Recreation visits to Big Bend National Park each year
Year Visits
2025 568,104
2024 561,458
2023 509,129
2022 514,107
2021 581,220
2020 393,907
2019 463,832
2018 440,091
2017 440,276
2016 388,290
2015 381,747
2014 314,102
2013 316,953
2012 292,055
2011 361,862
2010 372,330
2009 363,905
2008 362,512
2007 364,856
2006 298,717
2005 398,583
2004 357,723
2003 312,384
2002 327,747
2001 328,927
2000 262,320
1999 327,649
1998 338,442
1997 305,882
1996 279,454
1995 295,460
1994 330,417
1993 327,907
1992 294,535
1991 296,470
1990 257,378
1989 281,728
1988 239,595
1987 227,921
1986 200,622
1985 188,045
1984 167,665
1983 164,926
1982 180,144
1981 167,332
1980 174,008
1979 282,941
Recreation visits to Big Bend National Park each month of 2025
Month of 2025 Visits
January 49,001
February 52,227
March 106,911
April 64,252
May 41,026
June 24,636
July 21,457
August 19,830
September 23,789
October 47,064
November 55,779
December 62,132

Source and notes

National Park Service, Visitor Use Statistics (Public domain (U.S. government work); source National Park Service).

A recreation visit is one person entering the park for recreation on one day, estimated by the park from traffic counters and sampling; people passing through for work or on a through road aren't counted. Monthly counts begin in 1979 or the park's first year on record, and include the years before it became a national park, when it may have been, say, a national monument. A sudden jump or drop can be a change in how the park counts, and closures (the 2020 pandemic, storms, fires, government shutdowns) show as dips. NPS publishes a year early the next year.