A Closer Look: Most Popular National Park Visits in 2023
2023 was a very active year for the 63 designated National Parks in our National Park Service system across the country. There were over 92 million visits to these parks from the Everglades to the Rockies. Let’s dive in to find out who came out on top and the changes from the previous year.
Table of Contents
Most Popular National Park Remains on Top
The Great Smoky Mountains stayed as the most popular National Park in 2023, with the Grand Canyon and Zion staying keeping their #2 and #3 position as well. The 22 million annual visitors at these three parks accounted for almost 25% of the total 92 million recreational visitors in 2023. Pretty impressive.
Interestingly, while there were some changes in position within the top 15 National Parks, all stayed in the same range. Yellowstone, Grand Teton and Olympic increase their positional rank by 3 or more spots. While Rocky Mountain, Acadia, Indian Springs, Cuyahoga Valley, Glacier, Joshua Tree, and Hot Springs all lost positions in the rankings. I can attest that when we visited Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks last summer, that they were certainly very busy!
Overall National Park Visitations
The National Park Service reported overall increases in National Park visits in 2023, not just in the most popular National Park. The year over year increase ended up being over 4% for all National Parks. This increase pushes the overall totals from 88.6 million visitors in 2022 to over 92.3 million visits in 2023. This is great news, as we all want to see our public lands enjoyed by as many people as possible.
Overall, the top 15 parks saw visitation levels increase by 4.5% year over year. The remaining 48 National Parks increased by only 3.7%. This seems healthy, as it shows a steady increase across all levels of the National Park System. Looking at the bottom 10 parks, they all remained basically the same as in 2023.
No Major Shifts in the Rankings
Looking deeper at the movement within the rankings, only one Park, the Virgin Islands moved up five positions from #53 in 2022 up to #48 in 2023. Only Grand Teton, Olympic and Glacier Bay moved up four positions. The two parks that lost the most ground were both in Florida. Biscayne National Park, dropped five positions to #36 and the Everglades, dropped to 27th position.
Some Parks Had Huge Increases
While the rankings between parks stayed close to 2022, some parks have massive increase. For example, Gateway arch saw a 50% increase jumping from 160,000 visitors to over 242,000. The largest absolutely increase was in Yellowstone, with over 1.2 million additional visitors in 2023 that amounted to a 37% increase. One of the largest increases from a percentage basis was to the Virgin Islands, at a 75% increase in visitations year over year. Clearly, the pent-up demand was released in 2023, driving visitors to iconic locations.
Lower Visitation at One Popular Park
There were some fluctuations in total numbers for some parks, but one striking shift was for Haleakala National Park. This park saw an almost 300,000 visit decline, equating to a 27% reduction. This can clearly be explained by the devastating fires that ravaged Maui in August of 2023. Our family visited Hawaii in 2019 and fell in love with the views from the Haleakala. As the island and its residents heal from this horrible event, I am sure we will see this rebound in 2024.
No Rank Changes in the Bottom 10 National Parks
One interesting observation to note. While the absolute number is still very small, the ten least visited parks had an over 10% increase in recreational visits from 2022 to 2023. Clearly, the most adventurous National Park visitors are recovering their desire to visit the remote areas of Alaska, Florida, Washington and Northern Michigan. I hope our family’s visitation of Dry Tortugas in January will help see these least visited parks continue to grow in 2024.
I have posted the entire National Park list in the table below. Check it out and find where your favorite park ranks. Note, this does not include all the 429 units the National Park Service manages but illustrates the only the largest of the public lands designated as National Parks.
Final Thoughts on National Park Visits in 2023
I’m thrilled to see more people exploring our National Parks in 2023. This year, I challenge myself – and you – to discover a new park. The more we experience their beauty, the more committed we’ll be to their preservation. Remember, Leave No Trace principles help us protect these precious places for the future.
Rankings of All National Parks
| National Park | Rank | Recreation Visits | % of Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Great Smoky Mountains NP | 1 | 13,297,647 | 0.1439 |
| Grand Canyon NP | 2 | 4,733,705 | 0.0512 |
| Zion NP | 3 | 4,623,238 | 0.05 |
| Yellowstone NP | 4 | 4,501,382 | 0.0487 |
| Rocky Mountain NP | 5 | 4,115,837 | 0.0445 |
| Yosemite NP | 6 | 3,897,070 | 0.0422 |
| Acadia NP | 7 | 3,879,890 | 0.042 |
| Grand Teton NP | 8 | 3,417,106 | 0.037 |
| Joshua Tree NP | 9 | 3,270,404 | 0.0354 |
| Olympic NP | 10 | 2,947,503 | 0.0319 |
| Glacier NP | 11 | 2,933,616 | 0.0318 |
| Cuyahoga Valley NP | 12 | 2,860,059 | 0.031 |
| Indiana Dunes NP | 13 | 2,765,892 | 0.0299 |
| Hot Springs NP | 14 | 2,502,967 | 0.0271 |
| Bryce Canyon NP | 15 | 2,461,269 | 0.0266 |
| Gateway Arch NP | 16 | 2,422,836 | 0.0262 |
| New River Gorge NP & PRES | 17 | 1,707,223 | 0.0185 |
| Mount Rainier NP | 18 | 1,674,294 | 0.0181 |
| Hawaii Volcanoes NP | 19 | 1,620,294 | 0.0175 |
| Shenandoah NP | 20 | 1,576,008 | 0.0171 |
| Arches NP | 21 | 1,482,045 | 0.016 |
| Capitol Reef NP | 22 | 1,268,861 | 0.0137 |
| Death Valley NP | 23 | 1,099,632 | 0.0119 |
| Badlands NP | 24 | 1,046,400 | 0.0113 |
| Saguaro NP | 25 | 1,010,906 | 0.0109 |
| Sequoia NP | 26 | 980,567 | 0.0106 |
| Everglades NP | 27 | 810,189 | 0.0088 |
| Canyonlands NP | 28 | 800,322 | 0.0087 |
| Haleakala NP | 29 | 791,292 | 0.0086 |
| Theodore Roosevelt NP | 30 | 746,862 | 0.0081 |
| White Sands NP | 31 | 729,096 | 0.0079 |
| Glacier Bay NP & PRES | 32 | 703,659 | 0.0076 |
| Mammoth Cave NP | 33 | 654,450 | 0.0071 |
| Kings Canyon NP | 34 | 643,065 | 0.007 |
| Wind Cave NP | 35 | 592,459 | 0.0064 |
| Biscayne NP | 36 | 571,242 | 0.0062 |
| Crater Lake NP | 37 | 559,976 | 0.0061 |
| Petrified Forest NP | 38 | 520,491 | 0.0056 |
| Great Sand Dunes NP & PRES | 39 | 512,219 | 0.0055 |
| Big Bend NP | 40 | 509,129 | 0.0055 |
| Mesa Verde NP | 41 | 505,194 | 0.0055 |
| Denali NP & PRES | 42 | 498,722 | 0.0054 |
| Lassen Volcanic NP | 43 | 418,978 | 0.0045 |
| Redwood NP | 44 | 409,105 | 0.0044 |
| Carlsbad Caverns NP | 45 | 394,121 | 0.0043 |
| Kenai Fjords NP | 46 | 387,525 | 0.0042 |
| Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP | 47 | 357,069 | 0.0039 |
| Virgin Islands NP | 48 | 343,685 | 0.0037 |
| Pinnacles NP | 49 | 341,220 | 0.0037 |
| Channel Islands NP | 50 | 328,746 | 0.0036 |
| Congaree NP | 51 | 250,114 | 0.0027 |
| Guadalupe Mountains NP | 52 | 227,340 | 0.0025 |
| Voyageurs NP | 53 | 220,825 | 0.0024 |
| Great Basin NP | 54 | 143,265 | 0.0016 |
| Dry Tortugas NP | 55 | 84,285 | 0.0009 |
| Wrangell-St. Elias NP & PRES | 56 | 78,305 | 0.0008 |
| North Cascades NP | 57 | 40,351 | 0.0004 |
| Katmai NP & PRES | 58 | 33,763 | 0.0004 |
| Isle Royale NP | 59 | 28,965 | 0.0003 |
| Kobuk Valley NP | 60 | 17,616 | 0.0002 |
| Lake Clark NP & PRES | 61 | 16,728 | 0.0002 |
| National Park of American Samoa | 62 | 12,135 | 0.0001 |
| Gates of the Arctic NP & PRES | 63 | 11,045 | 0.0001 |
