Fifteen national parks set records for visitors in 2020, a year that saw Americans head for the outdoors to escape Covid-19 limits on indoor gatherings.
But overall visits to the 423 parks in the National Park System declined 28 percent from 2019 to 2020, a drop attributed to 66 parks being closed for two months or more. In total, 237 million people visited national parks in 2020, while 327 million people visited national parks in 2019.
“This past year has reminded us how important national parks and public lands are to overall well-being,” National Park Service Deputy Director Shawn Benge said on the NPS website. “Throughout the country, national parks provided close-to-home opportunities for people to spend much needed time outdoors for their physical and psychological health.”
Most parks have reopened in 2021, and masks are now required in all Park Service buildings and facilities. Visitors to federally managed lands are required to wear masks when physical distancing cannot be maintained, including narrow or busy trails, overlooks, and parking lots.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park remained the most-visited national park in 2020, a position it has held since 1944. After 30 years as the second-most-visited park, Grand Canyon National Park dropped to sixth-most-visited. Yellowstone National Park moved from sixth to second, a position it had not held since 1947.
The 15 parks that set visitor records in 2019 are:
- Big Thicket National Preserve, Texas
- Coronado National Memorial, Arizona
- Eugene O’Neill National Historic Site, California
- Fort Caroline National Memorial, Florida
- Indiana Dunes National Park
- Lassen Volcanic National Park, California
- Little River Canyon National Preserve, Alabama
- Monocacy National Battlefield, Maryland
- Niobrara National Scenic River, Nebraska
- Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park, New Jersey
- Petroglyph National Monument, New Mexico
- Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Michigan
- River Raisin National Battlefield, Michigan
- Saint Croix National Scenic Riverway, Wisconsin
- Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Michigan
The 10 most visited national parks are:
- Great Smoky Mountains National Park: 12.1 million visitors
- Yellowstone National Park: 3.8 million
- Zion National Park: 3.6 million
- Rocky Mountain National Park: 3.3 million
- Grand Teton National Park: 3.3 million
- Grand Canyon National Park: 2.9 million
- Cuyahoga Valley National Park: 2.8 million
- Acadia National Park: 2.7 million
- Olympic National Park: 2.5 million
- Joshua Tree National Park: 2.4 million
The 10 most visited National Park Service sites are:
- Blue Ridge Parkway: 14.1 million visitors
- Golden Gate National Recreation Area: 12.4 million
- Great Smoky Mountains National Park: 12.1 million
- Gateway National Recreation Area: 8.4 million
- Lake Mead National Recreation Area: 8 million
- George Washington Memorial Parkway: 6.2 million
- Natchez Trace Parkway: 6.1 million
- Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park: 4.9 million
- Cape Cod National Seashore: 4.1 million
- Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area 4.1 million
More information on national park visits is available at the National Park Service Social Science website and the National Park Service Visitor Use Statistics website.