National parks
How many people visit White Sands National Park?
White Sands National Park had 659,742 recreation visits in 2025, the 35th most of the 63 national parks. Its busiest year since 1979 was 2021, with 782,469 visits. March and July were its busiest months in 2025, between them 25% of the year's visits.
Visits in 2025
659,742
Up 33% from 497,506 in 2015
Among national parks
35th
most visited of 63
Busiest month of 2025
March
91,656 visits
Recreation visits to White Sands each year
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are in the tables below.
Recreation visits to White Sands 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 | 659,742 |
| 2024 | 702,236 |
| 2023 | 729,096 |
| 2022 | 705,127 |
| 2021 | 782,469 |
| 2020 | 415,383 |
| 2019 | 608,785 |
| 2018 | 603,008 |
| 2017 | 612,468 |
| 2016 | 555,793 |
| 2015 | 497,506 |
| 2014 | 503,660 |
| 2013 | 490,544 |
| 2012 | 447,385 |
| 2011 | 428,924 |
| 2010 | 470,921 |
| 2009 | 471,167 |
| 2008 | 438,511 |
| 2007 | 437,042 |
| 2006 | 440,927 |
| 2005 | 450,447 |
| 2004 | 448,185 |
| 2003 | 492,008 |
| 2002 | 498,964 |
| 2001 | 518,958 |
| 2000 | 515,229 |
| 1999 | 553,948 |
| 1998 | 592,957 |
| 1997 | 629,507 |
| 1996 | 616,699 |
| 1995 | 604,796 |
| 1994 | 583,061 |
| 1993 | 611,252 |
| 1992 | 590,371 |
| 1991 | 588,543 |
| 1990 | 582,487 |
| 1989 | 568,530 |
| 1988 | 556,185 |
| 1987 | 567,613 |
| 1986 | 666,879 |
| 1985 | 486,754 |
| 1984 | 542,930 |
| 1983 | 492,902 |
| 1982 | 543,581 |
| 1981 | 556,494 |
| 1980 | 511,476 |
| 1979 | 580,814 |
| Month of 2025 | Visits |
|---|---|
| January | 40,809 |
| February | 43,146 |
| March | 91,656 |
| April | 66,951 |
| May | 69,126 |
| June | 62,133 |
| July | 70,086 |
| August | 49,344 |
| September | 39,255 |
| October | 22,389 |
| November | 46,486 |
| December | 58,361 |
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.