National parks
How many people visit Wind Cave National Park?
Wind Cave National Park had 606,258 recreation visits in 2025, the 37th most of the 63 national parks. Its busiest year since 1979 was 2003, with 874,167 visits. July and August were its busiest months in 2025, between them 36% of the year's visits.
Visits in 2025
606,258
Down 1% from 612,198 in 2015
Among national parks
37th
most visited of 63
Busiest month of 2025
July
111,639 visits
Recreation visits to Wind Cave each year
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are in the tables below.
Recreation visits to Wind Cave 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 | 606,258 |
| 2024 | 489,399 |
| 2023 | 592,459 |
| 2022 | 607,418 |
| 2021 | 709,001 |
| 2020 | 448,405 |
| 2019 | 615,350 |
| 2018 | 656,397 |
| 2017 | 619,924 |
| 2016 | 617,377 |
| 2015 | 612,198 |
| 2014 | 547,022 |
| 2013 | 516,142 |
| 2012 | 529,083 |
| 2011 | 538,394 |
| 2010 | 577,141 |
| 2009 | 587,868 |
| 2008 | 573,433 |
| 2007 | 603,158 |
| 2006 | 591,049 |
| 2005 | 612,478 |
| 2004 | 593,877 |
| 2003 | 874,167 |
| 2002 | 810,298 |
| 2001 | 650,357 |
| 2000 | 668,507 |
| 1999 | 761,717 |
| 1998 | 849,974 |
| 1997 | 832,033 |
| 1996 | 781,171 |
| 1995 | 805,688 |
| 1994 | 871,061 |
| 1993 | 537,075 |
| 1992 | 660,296 |
| 1991 | 597,057 |
| 1990 | 586,464 |
| 1989 | 561,758 |
| 1988 | 578,016 |
| 1987 | 563,720 |
| 1986 | 483,334 |
| 1985 | 477,585 |
| 1984 | 536,022 |
| 1983 | 503,739 |
| 1982 | 467,392 |
| 1981 | 503,424 |
| 1980 | 473,061 |
| 1979 | 457,443 |
| Month of 2025 | Visits |
|---|---|
| January | 10,938 |
| February | 10,191 |
| March | 19,355 |
| April | 40,796 |
| May | 67,886 |
| June | 98,988 |
| July | 111,639 |
| August | 108,995 |
| September | 82,554 |
| October | 27,978 |
| November | 14,130 |
| December | 12,808 |
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.