Most visited National Park Sites

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

1. Great Smoky Mountains National Park - 14.1 million
2. Zion National Park - 5.0 million
3. Yellowstone National Park - 4.8 million
4. Grand Canyon National Park - 4.5 million
5. Rocky Mountain National Park - 4.4 million
6. Acadia National Park - 4.0 million
7. Grand Teton National Park - 3.8 million
8. Yosemite National Park - 3.2 million
9. Indiana Dunes National Park - 3.1 million
10. Glacier National Park - 3.0 million

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 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