Most to Least Visited National Parks
Looking for a list of the most to least visited national parks in the United States?
Read on for a list of all 63 national parks in order from most to least visited!
With so many national parks, it only makes sense that some receive more visitors than others. Many of the most popular national parks are easily accessible and offer stunning natural beauty. The lesser-visited national parks are often just as beautiful, but they may be more remote or difficult to access.
I’ve been lucky enough to visit five national parks so far (Joshua Tree National Park, Yellowstone National Park, North Cascades National Park, Olympic National Park, and Glacier Bay National Park.)
While Joshua Tree, Yellowstone, and Olympic are within the top 10 most visited national parks, Glacier Bay falls in the middle. Surprisingly, North Cascades is one of the least visited national parks, which is crazy to me since it’s beautiful and only two hours from Seattle! Maybe people just don’t know about it…?
So there are definitely some hidden gems when it comes to lesser-visited national parks! Without further ado, here’s a list of all the national parks in the United States in order of most visited to least visited.
National Parks in Order of Annual Visitors
These annual visitor numbers are taken from the most recent National Park Service statistics.
Top 10 Most Visited
1. Great Smoky Mountains National Park (Tennessee and North Carolina): 13.3 million visitors
2. Grand Canyon National Park (Arizona): 4.7 million visitors
3. Zion National Park (Utah): 4.6 million visitors
4. Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming): 4.5 million visitors
5. Rocky Mountain National Park (Colorado): 4.1 million visitors
6. Yosemite National Park (California): 3.9 million visitors
7. Acadia National Park (Maine): 3.9 million visitors
8. Grand Teton National Park (Wyoming): 3.4 million visitors
9. Joshua Tree National Park (California): 3.3 million visitors
10. Olympic National Park (Washington): 2.9 million visitors
Popular Parks by Annual Visitors
11. Glacier National Park (Montana): 2.9 million visitors
12. Cuyahoga Valley National Park (Ohio): 2.9 million visitors
13. Indiana Dunes National Park (Indiana): 2.8 million visitors
14. Hot Springs National Park (Arkansas): 2.5 million visitors
15. Bryce Canyon National Park (Utah): 2.5 million visitors
16. Gateway Arch National Park (Missouri): 2.4 million visitors
17. New River Gorge National Park (West Virginia): 1.7 million visitors
18. Mount Rainier National Park (Washington): 1.7 million visitors
19. Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park (Hawai’i): 1.6 million visitors
20. Shenandoah National Park (Virginia): 1.6 million visitors
21. Arches National Park (Utah): 1.5 million visitors
22. Capitol Reef National Park (Utah): 1.3 million visitors
23. Death Valley National Park (California): 1.1 million visitors
24. Badlands National Park (South Dakota): 1 million visitors
25. Saguaro National Park (Arizona): 1 million visitors
26. Sequoia National Park (California): 980,567 visitors
27. Everglades National Park (Florida): 810,189 visitors
28. Canyonlands National Park (Utah): 800,322 visitors
29. Haleakala National Park (Hawai’i): 791,292 visitors
30. Theodore Roosevelt National Park (North Dakota): 746,862 visitors
31. White Sands National Park (New Mexico): 729,096 visitors
32. Glacier Bay National Park (Alaska): 703,659 visitors
Less Popular Parks by Annual Visitors
33. Mammoth Cave National Park (Kentucky): 654,450 visitors
34. Kings Canyon National Park (California): 643,065 visitors
35. Wind Cave National Park (South Dakota): 592,459 visitors
36. Biscayne National Park (Florida): 571,242 visitors
37. Crater Lake National Park (Oregon): 559,976 visitors
38. Petrified Forest National Park (Arizona): 520,491 visitors
39. Great Sand Dunes National Park (Colorado): 512,219 visitors
40. Big Bend National Park (Texas): 509,129 visitors
41. Mesa Verde National Park (Colorado): 505,194 visitors
42. Denali National Park (Alaska): 498,722 visitors
43. Lassen Volcanic National Park (California): 418,978 visitors
44. Redwood National Park (California): 409,105 visitors
45. Carlsbad Caverns National Park (New Mexico): 394,121 visitors
46. Kenai Fjords National Park (Alaska): 387,525 visitors
47. Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park (Colorado): 357,069 visitors
48. Virgin Islands National Park (US Virgin Islands): 343,685 visitors
49. Pinnacles National Park (California): 341,220 visitors
50. Channel Islands National Park (California): 328,746 visitors
51. Congaree National Park (South Carolina): 250,114 visitors
52. Guadalupe Mountains National Park (Texas): 227,340 visitors
53. Voyageurs National Park (Minnesota): 220,825 visitors
Top 10 Least Visited
54. Great Basin National Park (Nevada): 143,265 visitors
55. Dry Tortugas National Park (Florida): 84,285 visitors
56. Wrangell-St. Elias National Park (Alaska): 78,305 visitors
57. North Cascades National Park (Washington): 40,351 visitors
58. Katmai National Park (Alaska): 33,763 visitors
59. Isle Royale National Park (Michigan): 28,965 visitors
60. Kobuk Valley National Park (Alaska): 17,616 visitors
61. Lake Clark National Park (Alaska): 16,728 visitors
62. American Samoa National Park (American Samoa): 12,135 visitors
63. Gates of the Arctic National Park (Alaska): 11,045 visitors
Most Visited National Parks
When it comes to the most visited parks, Great Smoky Mountains National Park dominates the list with 13.3 million annual visitors. This is because the national park is easily accessible to millions of people in the Southeastern United States, who flock to the large park to enjoy its mountain scenery.
Classic parks out West, like Grand Canyon National Park, Zion National Park, and Yellowstone National Park, are next when it comes to the most popular parks in the country, thanks to their diverse beauty.
Least Visited National Parks
For the least visited national parks, it’s not surprising that five of the ten least popular national parks are located in Alaska. Their cold, remote location makes it difficult to access these parks.
Other parks like Dry Tortugas in Florida can only be accessed by boat or airplane. Isle Royale National Park in Michigan and Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota are also very remote in the northern reaches of the Great Lakes, and are primarily only accessible by boat. This contributes to their low visitor numbers.
I really do find it shocking that North Cascades National Park gets only 40,000 visitors per year, considering how beautiful it is and how it’s only two hours from Seattle — it’s hugely underrated!
Most to Least Visited National Parks
This guide showed you the most and least visited national parks in the United States.
Out of all 63 national parks in the US, many of them receive millions of visitors every year, while others receive less than 50,000 visitors annually due to their remote locations and lack of accessibility.
All of the national parks in the US are worth visiting, but this gives you an idea of which ones are the most popular, and which parks are off-the-beaten-path hidden gems just waiting to be discovered.
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