America’s national parks encompass all kinds of landscapes and ecosystems, from deserts and lava flows to canyons and mountains to forests, coasts, wetlands and tundra.
Depending on what they’re protecting and their location, the national parks vary greatly in size.
If you’re looking for a list of all American national parks ranked by size, from the smallest national park to the largest national park, you’ll find an overview below.
What Is the Smallest National Park?
The smallest national park in America is Gateway Arch National Park in Missouri.
Formerly known as the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, this iconic park and arch in St. Louis is no bigger than 91 acres (0.14 square miles). It is by far the smallest U.S. national park.
What Is the Largest National Park?
The largest national park in America is Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve in southeastern Alaska.
Encompassing 13.2 million acres (20,625 square miles), this enormous park and preserve is bigger than Denali, Death Valley, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Glacier, Yosemite and Great Smoky Mountains combined.
The “national park” portion of Wrangell-St. Elias alone is more than 8.3 million acres, which in itself is bigger than any other National Park Service unit.
What Is the Largest National Park in the Contiguous United States?
Of the ten largest national parks in the entire United States, no fewer than seven are in Alaska, including all four of the biggest parks. So, what is the largest national park outside of Alaska?
That would be Death Valley National Park. This sprawling park encompasses over 3.4 million acres (5,325 square miles) of deserts, mountains, flats, sand dunes and badlands in California and Nevada.
See More Frequently Asked Questions About the National Parks Here!
List of All National Parks Ranked by Size (From Smallest to Largest)
The following list shows all U.S. national parks ranked by size, from the smallest national park to the largest national park. It goes from a small urban park in Missouri (Gateway Arch) to a positively enormous park in the southeastern Alaskan wilderness (Wrangell-St. Elias).
List of All National Parks Ranked by Size (Per State)
The following list contains all U.S. national parks ranked by size per state. This overview allows you to quickly see which is the smallest and/or largest national park in each state.
