The National Park Service (NPS) has released visitation numbers for 2024, and it was a record-breaking year. NPS says it recorded 331.9 million recreation visits during 2024, which represents a 2% increase over 2023—that’s 6.36 million more visits year over year. Curious about the most visited and least visited parks from last year?
The park with the most visits by far in 2024 was Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which straddles the border between North Carolina and Tennessee. Meanwhile, the least-visited U.S. national park last year was Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve in Alaska.
Of the NPS-managed sites categorized as “national parks,” NPS says 28 set a new record for annual visits last year, suggesting the popularity of dozens of parks is on the rise. Below, find lists of the most and least visited national parks in 2024. (See all visitation numbers for NPS-managed sites in 2024 here.)
Top 10 U.S. National Parks in 2024 (by Visitation)
- Great Smoky Mountains (12,191,834 visits)
- Zion (4,946,592 visits)
- Grand Canyon (4,919,163 visits)
- Yellowstone (4,744,353 visits)
- Rocky Mountain (4,154,349 visits)
- Yosemite (4,121,807 visits)
- Acadia (3,961,661 visits)
- Olympic (3,717,267 visits)
- Grand Teton (3,628,222 visits)
- Glacier (3,208,755 visits)
The 5 Least-Visited U.S. National Parks in 2024
- Gates of the Arctic (11,907 visits)
- North Cascades (16,485 visits)
- Kobuk Valley (17,233 visits)
- Lake Clark (19,395 visits)
- Isle Royale (28,806 visits)
Unsurprisingly, three of the five least-visited national parks in the United States are remote parks in Alaska.
Which visitation ranking from 2024 surprised you most? Do you think visitation will be affected in 2025 by the federal job cuts?