Today we are sharing the most visited National Park Sites in the United States.
Most Visited US National Park Sites
We started this list by looking at all of the parks that have over 1 million visitors. We honestly thought there might be 25 or 30 parks with this many visitors.
You can imagine our surprise when we realized the list is at 73 parks with over a million visitors in 2021! A few parks saw big changes in their visitation numbers.
Some of the parks honestly surprised us with their visitation numbers. We have been to many of these parks and a lot of them never felt that busy but it could have been the time of year that we visited.
There are other parks that we never would have imagined having over a million visitors. Are there any parks on this list that surprised you?
Top Ten Most Visited National Parks in 2021
- Great Smoky Mountains National Park - 14.1 million
- Zion National Park - 5.0 million
- Yellowstone National Park - 4.8 million
- Grand Canyon National Park - 4.5 million
- Rocky Mountain National Park - 4.4 million
- Acadia National Park - 4.0 million
- Grand Teton National Park - 3.8 million
- Yosemite National Park - 3.2 million
- Indiana Dunes National Park - 3.1 million
- Glacier National Park - 3.0 million
Planning a National Park vacation? America the Beautiful/National Park Pass covers entrance fees for an entire year to all US National Park Sites and over 2,000 Federal Recreation Fee Sites.
The park pass covers everyone in the car for per vehicle sites and for up to 4 adults for per-person sites.
Buy on REI.com and REI will donate 10% of pass proceeds to the National Forest Foundation, National Park Foundation and the U.S. Endowment for Forestry & Communities.
2021 Most Visited US National Park Sites
Visitation in 2021 surpassed 2020 by more than 60 million recreation visits! Visitation to national parks in 2021 exceeded 297 million recreation visits.
In the past five years, there have been nearly 1.5 billion recreation visits to national parks.
Blue Ridge Parkway
State - North Carolina, Virginia
2021 visitation - 15,948,148
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
State - North Carolina, Tennessee
2021 visitation - 14,161,548
Golden Gate National Recreation Area
State - California
2021 visitation - 13,712,614
Gateway National Recreation Area
State - New Jersey/New York
2021 visitation - 9,060,807
Lake Mead National Recreation Area
State - Nevada
2021 visitation - 7,603,474
George Washington Memorial Parkway
State - Washington DC
2021 visitation - 6,821,179
Natchez Trace Parkway
State - Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee
2021 visitation - 6,401,346
Lincoln Memorial
State - Washington DC
2021 visitation - 5,792,331
Gulf Islands National Seashore
State - Mississippi, Florida
2021 visitation - 5,458,816
Zion National Park
State - Utah
2021 visitation - 5,039,835
Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park
State -Washington DC, Maryland, West Virginia
2021 visitation - 5,005,217
Yellowstone National Park
State - Wyoming, Idaho, Montana
2021 visitation - 4,860,242
Grand Canyon National Park
State - Arizona
2021 visitation - 4,532,677
Rocky Mountain National Park
State - Colorado
2021 visitation - 4,434,848
Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area
State - New Jersey, Pennsylvania
2021 visitation - 4,340,905
Acadia National Park
State - Maine
2021 visitation - 4,069,098
Cape Cod National Seashore
State - Massachusetts
2021 visitation - 4,017,239
Grand Teton National Park
State - Wyoming
2021 visitation 3,885,230
World War II Memorial
State - Washington DC
2021 visitation - 3,727,167
Vietnam Veterans Memorial
State - Washington DC
2021 visitation - 3,636,033
Yosemite National Park
State - California
2021 visitation - 3,287,595
Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area
State - Georgia
2021 visitation - 3,256,151
Cape Hatteras National Seashore
State - North Carolina
2021 visitation - 3,206,056
Indiana Dunes National Park
State - Indiana
2021 visitation - 3,177,210
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area
State - Arizona, Utah
2021 visitation - 3,144,318
Colonial National Historical Park
State - Virginia
2021 visitation - 3,114,420
Glacier National Park
State - Montana
2021 visitation - 3,081,656
Joshua Tree National Park
State - California
2021 visitation - 3,064,400
Korean War Veterans Memorial
State - Washington DC
2021 visitation - 2,986,751
San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park
State - California
2021 visitation - 2,827,885
Point Reyes National Seashore
State - California
2021 visitation - 2,738,098
Olympic National Park
State - Washington
2021 visitation 2,718,925
Assateague Island National Seashore
State - Maryland, Virginia
2021 visitation - 2,662,716
Cuyahoga Valley National Park
State - Ohio
2021 visitation - 2,575,275
Big Cypress National Preserve
State - Florida
2021 visitation - 2,563,810
Mount Rushmore National Memorial
State - South Dakota
2021 visitation - 2,525,868
Canaveral National Seashore
State - Florida
2021 visitation - 2,218,059
Hot Springs National Park
State - Arkansas
2021 visitation - 2,162,884
Bryce Canyon National Park
State - Utah
2021 visitation - 2,104,600
Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial
State - Washington DC
2021 visitation - 2,032,470
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial
State - Washington DC
2021 visitation - 2,022,050
Rock Creek Park
State - Washington DC
2021 visitation - 1,838,346
Thomas Jefferson Memorial
State - Washington DC
2021 visitation - 1,833,924
Arches National Park
State - Utah
2021 visitation - 1,806,865
Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park
State - Georgia
2021 visitation - 1,800,823
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
State - Michigan
2021 visitation - 1,722,955
New River Gorge National Park
State - West Virginia
2021 visitation - 1,682,70
Mount Rainier National Park
State - Washington
2021 visitation - 1,670,063
Castle Clinton National Monument
State - New York
2021 visitation - 1,665,660
John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway
State - Wyoming
2021 visitation - 1,603,962
Shenandoah National Park
State - Virginia
2021 visitation - 1,592,312
Statue of Liberty National Monument
State - New York
2021 visitation - 1,556,482
Chickasaw National Recreation Area
State - Oklahoma
2021 visitation - 1,517,102
Buffalo National River
State - Arkansas
2021 visitation - 1,515,874
Valley Forge National Historical Park
State - Pennsylvania
2021 visitation - 1,502,209
Independence National Historical Park
State - Pennsylvania
2021 visitation - 1,495,686
Capitol Reef National Park
State - Utah
2021 visitation - 1,405,353
Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area
State - Washington
2021 visitation - 1,336,629
San Antonio Missions National Historical Park
State - Texas
2021 visitation - 1,335,071
Ozark National Scenic Riverways
State - Missouri
2021 visitation - 1,328,773
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
State - Michigan
2021 visitation - 1,313,179
Lake Meredith National Recreation Area
State - Texas
2021 visitation - 1,307,769
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
State - Hawaii
2021 visitation - 1,262,747
Badlands National Park
State - South Dakota
2021 visitation - 1,224,226
National Capital Parks-East
State - Washington DC
2021 Visitation - 1,215,836
Pearl Harbor National Memorial
State - Hawaii
2021 visitation - 1,185,369
Death Valley National Park
State - California, Nevada
2021 visitation - 1,146,551
Gateway Arch National Park
State - Missouri
2021 visitation - 1,145,081
Boston National Historical Park
State - Massachusetts
2021 visitation - 1,098,210
Amistad National Recreation Area
State - Texas
2021 visitation - 1,091,897
Saguaro National Park
State - Arizona
2021 visitation - 1,079,786
Sequoia National Park
State - California
2021 visitation - 1,059,548
Curecanti National Recreation Area
State - Colorado
2021 Visitation - 1,043,725
These parks fell just under 1 million visitors in 2021
Minute Man National Historical Park
State - Pennsylvania
2021 visitation - 983,201
Fort Point National Historic Site
State - California
2021 visitation - 947,238
Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Historical Park
State - Tennessee + Georgia
2021 visitation - 945,390
Everglades National Park
State - Florida
2021 visitation - 942,130
Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve
State - Florida
2021 visitation - 935,419
Did this list surprise you? There are a few most visited national parks here that we did not realize had such huge visitation numbers. There are also a few that we can't wait to visit and see why so many people go to them each year.
Make sure to check out the least visited National Parks to see how they compare.
Most Visited US National Park Visitation numbers are from the NPS Statistic Page
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