US National Parks by Size

Have you ever wondered just how big the US National Parks are? Today we are breaking down US National Parks by Size from largest to smallest.

You may be surprised at just how small the smallest park is.

US National Parks by Size

The National Park Service includes 423 park sites as of early 2021. These sites encompass mountain ranges, protected areas, the lowest spot in the United States at 282 feet below sea level in Death Valley National Park, to Mount Denali in Denali National Park being the highest point in North America at 20310 feet above sea level and so many more amazing sites to see.

When it comes to the biggest National Park in the National Park System you may be surprised to learn it is 6 times larger than Yellowstone National Park....The largest park is Wrangell St. Elias National Park in Alaska. 

Seven of the 10 biggest national parks can be found in the state of Alaska. 

The United States has some of the most amazing national parks in the world. We are blessed to have Yellowstone, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park and so many other gorgeous parks we can easily visit.

Below we are breaking down the 63 National Parks by size. While there are 423 sites in the National Park Service we wanted to break down the parks you are most familiar with. 

One thing you may notice is some of the largest national park sites are actually national parks and preserves. These parks you may see their total acre combined because often they are run as one park unit even though the park designation is different.

This happens a lot with Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Preserve. The park land size is combined often so you will see varying numbers depending on the list you are looking at. 

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What is the Largest National Park in the United States?

The largest National Park in the United States by landmass is Wrangell St Elias National Park in Alaska.

Wrangell St. Elias NP is over 8.3 million acres and was established in December 1980.

To give a bit of perspective on how big Wrangell St Elias is it would take six Yellowstone NP to fill Wrangell St. Elias.

The 2nd largest National Park site is Gates of the Arctic with 7,500,000 acres followed by Denali NP with over 4.7 million acres. 

What is the largest National Park in the Lower 48?

While Alaska has a large number of the largest National Parks there are quite a few good size parks in the lower 48 states.

The largest national park in the lower 48 is...Death Valley National Park!

Death Valley is 3.4 million acres of epic landscape to explore.

The 2nd largest national park in the lower 48 is Yellowstone National Park with 2.2 million acres.

Followed by Everglades National Park in Florida with 1.4 million acres.

What is the smallest national park in the United States?

The smallest national park in the United States is Gateway Arch NP in St. Louis, Missouri. This park is only 192 acres.

Hot Springs National Park is the 2nd smallest National Park in the United States with only 5,549 acres which is 8.6 square miles of land.

The 3rd smallest national park site is the National Park of American Samoa with only 8,256 acres

The smallest overall site in the National Park Service is Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial in Pennsylvania that is only 0.02 acres.

National Parks ranked by size

Ranking	National Park	Acres (approx)	State
1	Wrangell-St. Elias	8,323,146	Alaska
2	Gates of the Arctic	7,523,897	Alaska
3	Denali	4,740,911	Alaska
4	Katmai	3,674,529	Alaska
5	Death Valley	3,408,395	California
6	Glacier Bay	3,223,383	Alaska
7	Lake Clark	2,619,816	Alaska
8	Yellowstone	2,219,790	Wyoming/Montana
9	Kobuk Valley	1,750,716	Alaska
10	Everglades	1,400,539	Florida
11	Grand Canyon	1,201,647	Arizona
12	Glacier	1,013,126	Montana
13	Olympic	922,649	Washington
14	Big Bend	801,163	Texas
15	Joshua Tree	795,155	California
16	Yosemite	761,747	California
17	Kenai Fjords	669,650	Alaska
18	Isle Royale	571,790	Michigan
19	Great Smoky Mountains	522,426	Tennessee
20	North Cascades	504,780	Washington
21	Kings Canyon	461,901	California
22	Sequoia	404,062	California
23	Canyonlands	337,597	Utah
24	Hawaii Volcanoes	325,605	Hawaii
25	Grand Teton	310,044	Wyoming
26	Rocky Mountain	265,807	Colorado
27	Channel Islands	249,561	California
28	Badlands	242,755	South Dakota
29	Capitol Reef	241,904	Utah
30	Mount Rainier	236,381	Washington
31	Petrified Forest	221,390	Arizona
32	Voyageurs	218,222	Minnesota
33	Shenandoah	199,223	Virginia
34	Crater Lake	183,224	Oregon
35	Biscayne	172,971	Florida
36	Zion	147,242	Utah
37	White Sands	146,344	New Mexico
38	Redwood	138,999	California
39	Great Sand Dunes	107,341	Colorado
40	Lassen Volcanic	106,589	California
41	Saguaro	92,867	Arizona
42	Guadalupe Mountains	86,367	Texas
43	Great Basin	77,180	Nevada
44	Arches	76,678	Utah
45	New River Gorge	72,185	West Virginia
46	Theodore Roosevelt	70,446	North Dakoa
47	Dry Tortugas	64,701	Florida
48	Mammoth Cave	54,011	Kentucky
49	Mesa Verde	52,485	Colorado
50	Acadia	49,076	Maine
51	Carlsbad Caverns	46,766	New Mexico
52	Bryce Canyon	35,835	Utah
53	Wind Cave	33,970	South Dakota
54	Haleakala	33,264	Hawaii
55	Cuyahoga Valley	32,571	Ohio
56	Black Canyon of the Gunnison	30,779	Colorado
57	Pinnacles	26,685	California
58	Congaree	26,476	South Carolina
59	Indiana Dunes	15,349	Indiana
60	Virgin Islands	15,052	Virgin Islands
61	American Samoa	8,256	American Samoa
62	Hot Springs	5,554	Arkansas
63	Gateway Arch	192	Missouri

National Park by Size Notes

Redwood National Park includes both National and State parklands for a total of  131,983 acres (federal: 71,715; state: 60,268).

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks in California are often combined into one park because they are co-managed. We have them as 2 separate parks since they count individually towards the total 63 national parks and 423 national park service sites.

National Parks by size and state

Ranking	National Park	Acres (approx)	State
1	Wrangell-St. Elias	8,323,146	Alaska
2	Gates of the Arctic	7,523,897	Alaska
3	Denali	4,740,911	Alaska
4	Katmai	3,674,529	Alaska
5	Glacier Bay	3,223,383	Alaska
6	Lake Clark	2,619,816	Alaska
7	Kobuk Valley	1,750,716	Alaska
8	Kenai Fjords	669,650	Alaska
9	American Samoa	8,256	American Samoa
10	Grand Canyon	1,201,647	Arizona
11	Petrified Forest	221,390	Arizona
12	Saguaro	92,867	Arizona
13	Hot Springs	5,554	Arkansas
14	Death Valley	3,408,395	California
15	Joshua Tree	795,155	California
16	Yosemite	761,747	California
17	Kings Canyon	461,901	California
18	Sequoia	404,062	California
19	Channel Islands	249,561	California
20	Redwood	138,999	California
21	Lassen Volcanic	106,589	California
22	Pinnacles	26,685	California
23	Rocky Mountain	265,807	Colorado
24	Great Sand Dunes	107,341	Colorado
25	Mesa Verde	52,485	Colorado
26	Black Canyon of the Gunnison	30,779	Colorado
27	Everglades	1,400,539	Florida
28	Biscayne	172,971	Florida
29	Dry Tortugas	64,701	Florida
30	Hawaii Volcanoes	325,605	Hawaii
31	Haleakala	33,264	Hawaii
32	Indiana Dunes	15,349	Indiana
33	Mammoth Cave	54,011	Kentucky
34	Acadia	49,076	Maine
35	Isle Royale	571,790	Michigan
36	Voyageurs	218,222	Minnesota
37	Gateway Arch	192	Missouri
38	Glacier	1,013,126	Montana
39	Great Basin	77,180	Nevada
40	White Sands	146,344	New Mexico
41	Carlsbad Caverns	46,766	New Mexico
42	Theodore Roosevelt	70,446	North Dakoa
43	Cuyahoga Valley	32,571	Ohio
44	Crater Lake	183,224	Oregon
45	Congaree	26,476	South Carolina
46	Badlands	242,755	South Dakota
47	Wind Cave	33,970	South Dakota
48	Great Smoky Mountains	522,426	Tennessee
49	Big Bend	801,163	Texas
50	Guadalupe Mountains	86,367	Texas
51	Canyonlands	337,597	Utah
52	Capitol Reef	241,904	Utah
53	Zion	147,242	Utah
54	Arches	76,678	Utah
55	Bryce Canyon	35,835	Utah
56	Virgin Islands	15,052	Virgin Islands
57	Shenandoah	199,223	Virginia
58	Olympic	922,649	Washington
59	North Cascades	504,780	Washington
60	Mount Ranier	236,381	Washington
61	New River Gorge	72,185	West Virginia
62	Grand Teton	310,044	Wyoming
63	Yellowstone	2,219,790	Wyoming/Montana

 

Top 30 Largest National Park Service Sites by Size

	Park Name	Total Acres	State
1	Wrangell St Elias National Park	8,323,146.48	Alaska
2	Gates of the Arctic National Park	7,523,897.45	Alaska
3	Noatak National Preserve	6,587,071.39	Alaska
4	Wrangel St Elias National Preserve	4,852,644.52	Alaska
5	Denali National Park	4,740,911.16	Alaska
6	Katmai National Park	3,674,529.33	Alaska
7	Death Valley National Park	3,408,395.63	California/Nevada
8	Glacier Bay National Park	3,223,383.43	Alaska
9	Bering Land Bridge National Preserve	2,697,391.01	Alaska
10	Lake Clark National Park	2,619,816.49	Alaska
11	Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve	2,526,512.44	Alaska
12	Yellowstone National Park	2,219,790.71	Wyoming, Montana, Idaho
13	Kobuk Valley National Park	1,750,716.16	Alaska
14	Mojave National Preserve	1,547,955.00	California
15	Lake Mead National Recreation Area	1,495,815.53	Arizona, Nevada
16	Lake Clark National Reserve	1,410,293.68	Alaska
17	Everglades National Park	1,400,539.30	Florida
18	Denali National Preserve	1,334,117.80	Alaska
19	Glen Canyon National Recreation Area	1,254,116.62	Arizona, Utah
20	Grand Canyon National Park	1,201,647.03	Arizona
21	Glacier National Park	1,013,126.39	Montana
22	Gates of the Arctic National Preserve	948,608.07	Alaska
23	Olympic National Park	922,649.41	Washington
24	Big Bend National Park	801,163.21	Texas
25	Joshua Tree National Park	795,155.85	California
26	Yosemite National Park	761,747.50	California
27	Crater of the Moon National Preserve	698,939.69	Idaho
28	Kenai Fjords National Park	669,650.05	Alaska
29	Cape Krusenstern National Monument	649,096.15	Alaska
30	Big Cypress National Preserve	574,453.32	Florida

Top 30 Smallest National Park Service Sites by Size

1	Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial	0.02	Pennsylvania
2	Mary Mcleod Bethune House NHS	0.07	District of Columbia
3	John F Kennedy NHS	0.09	Massachusetts
4	Thomas Roosevelt Birthplace NHS	0.11	New York
5	Carter G Woodsen NHS	0.15	District of Columbia
6	Ford's Theatre NHS	0.30	District of Columbia
7	Belmont-Paul Women's Equality NM	0.34	District of Columbia
8	African Burial Ground NM	0.35	New York
9	Pullman NM	0.40	Illinois
10	Federal Hall National Memorial	0.45	New York
11	First Ladies NHS	0.46	Ohio
12	Edgar Allen Poe NH	0.52	Pennsylvania
13	Boston African American NHS	0.59	Massachusetts
14	President William J Clinton Birthplace NHS	0.68	Arkansas
15	Medgar-Myrlie Evers Home NM	0.74	Mississippi
16	General Grant National Memorial	0.76	New York
17	Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument	0.88	Alabama
18	Brices Cross Roads National Battlefield	1.00	Mississippi
19	Castle Clinton National Monument	1.00	New York
20	Tupelo National Battlefield	1.00	Mississippi
21	Theodore Roosevelt Inaguration NHS	1.18	New York
22	Maggie L Walker NHS	1.29	Virginia
23	World War I National Memorial	1.39	District of Columbia
24	Korean War Veterans Memorial	1.56	District of Columbia
25	Hamilton Grange National Memorial	1.75	New York
26	Brown Vs. Board of Education NHS	1.85	Kansas
27	Longfellow House Washington HQ NHS	1.98	Massachusetts
28	Vietnam Veterans Memorial	2.18	District of Columbia
29	Martin L King Jr Memorial	2.74	District of Columbia
30	Dwight D Eisenhower Memorial	3.39	District of Columbia

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