National parks
How many people visit Great Smoky Mountains National Park?
Great Smoky Mountains National Park had 11.5 million recreation visits in 2025, the most of the 63 national parks. Its busiest year since 1979 was 2021, with 14.2 million visits. October and July were its busiest months in 2025, between them 26% of the year's visits.
Visits in 2025
11.5 million
Up 8% from 10.7 million in 2015
Among national parks
1st
most visited of 63
Busiest month of 2025
October
1.56 million visits
Recreation visits to Great Smoky Mountains each year
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are in the tables below.
Recreation visits to Great Smoky Mountains 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.
| Year | Visits |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 11,527,939 |
| 2024 | 12,191,834 |
| 2023 | 13,297,647 |
| 2022 | 12,937,633 |
| 2021 | 14,161,548 |
| 2020 | 12,095,720 |
| 2019 | 12,547,743 |
| 2018 | 11,421,200 |
| 2017 | 11,338,893 |
| 2016 | 11,312,786 |
| 2015 | 10,712,674 |
| 2014 | 10,099,276 |
| 2013 | 9,354,695 |
| 2012 | 9,685,829 |
| 2011 | 9,008,830 |
| 2010 | 9,463,538 |
| 2009 | 9,491,437 |
| 2008 | 9,044,010 |
| 2007 | 9,372,253 |
| 2006 | 9,289,215 |
| 2005 | 9,192,477 |
| 2004 | 9,167,046 |
| 2003 | 9,366,845 |
| 2002 | 9,316,420 |
| 2001 | 9,197,697 |
| 2000 | 10,175,812 |
| 1999 | 10,283,598 |
| 1998 | 9,989,395 |
| 1997 | 9,965,075 |
| 1996 | 9,265,667 |
| 1995 | 9,080,420 |
| 1994 | 8,628,174 |
| 1993 | 9,283,848 |
| 1992 | 8,931,690 |
| 1991 | 8,654,459 |
| 1990 | 8,151,769 |
| 1989 | 8,333,553 |
| 1988 | 8,770,781 |
| 1987 | 10,209,841 |
| 1986 | 9,836,306 |
| 1985 | 9,319,290 |
| 1984 | 8,508,390 |
| 1983 | 8,435,475 |
| 1982 | 8,177,869 |
| 1981 | 8,312,884 |
| 1980 | 8,440,953 |
| 1979 | 8,019,788 |
| Month of 2025 | Visits |
|---|---|
| January | 276,999 |
| February | 409,449 |
| March | 845,724 |
| April | 986,442 |
| May | 1,114,160 |
| June | 1,336,144 |
| July | 1,435,337 |
| August | 998,056 |
| September | 981,366 |
| October | 1,561,683 |
| November | 867,677 |
| December | 714,902 |
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.