The 10 most popular US National Parks in 2025
Popular Science...
From the geysers of Yellowstone to the glowing, golden waterfall of Yosemite, US national parks stun in their natural beauty. In 2025, the parks received 323 million recreation visits, according to new data release by the National Parks Service.
The data includes visitors to National Parks, National Historic Sites, National Memorials, National Seashores, National Parkways, and other designated public lands. Last year, overall visits to national sites dipped slightly compared to 2024. But 26 locations experienced a record number of visits, including Sequoia National Park, Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve, Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield, and Coronado National Memorial.
For true National Parks (as defined by NPS), the Great Smoky Mountains took the top spot for most popular US National Park with 11.5 million visits in 2025.
| National Park | 2025 Visitors, according to National Park Service |
| Great Smoky Mountains | 11.5 million visits |
| Zion | 5 million visits |
| Yellowstone | 4.8 million visits |
| Grand Canyon | 4.4 million visits |
| Yosemite | 4.3 million visits |
| Rocky Mountain | 4.2 million visits |
| Acadia | 4.1 million visits |
| Grand Teton | 3.8 million visits |
| Olympic | 3.6 million visits |
| Glacier | 3.1 million visits |
Other interesting data in the NPS report includes:
- The most popular national parks for tent campers: Yosemite, Great Smoky Mountains, and Joshua Tree.
- The most popular national parks for RVs: Yosemite, Great Smoky Mountains, and Glacier.
- The most visited national memorials: Lincoln, Vietnam Veterans, World War II, Korean War Veterans, Martin Luther King, Jr.
Since tracking began in 1979, national park visitors have grown from 205 million in 1979 to a record-breaking 331 million in 2024.
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