Top 10 Most Visited National Parks in 2021
The National Park Service (NPS) recently released its visitation statistics for 2021, including the most visited national parks in 2021.
In the report, the NPS said that “while visitation has not completely recovered to pre-pandemic levels, it has regained much of the visitation lost due to pandemic restrictions in 2020 and is now at a level like the 2014-2015 run up to the NPS Centennial in 2016.”
As more and more people continue to explore America’s national parks, numerous of the most famous national parks broke their visitation records in 2021. In total, no fewer than 44 NPS sites set a record for recreation visit in 2021.
However, it’s also important to point out that the National Park System as a whole as not as crowded as it used to be.
Yet, crown jewel parks like Great Smoky Mountains, Yellowstone, Glacier, Rocky Mountain, Zion and Grand Canyon have been overcrowded for years—and probably will continue to be in the future.
NPS Director Chuck Sams said “it’s wonderful to see so many Americans continuing to find solace and inspiration in these incredible places during the second year of the pandemic. We’re happy to see so many visitors returning to iconic parks like Yellowstone and Yosemite.”
Check out the most visited national parks in America in 2021 below!
Top 10 Most Visited U.S. National Parks
10. Glacier National Park
2021 recreational visits: 3,081,656
9. Indiana Dunes National Park
2021 recreational visits: 3,177,210
8. Yosemite National Park
2021 recreational visits: 3,287,595
7. Grand Teton National Park
2021 recreational visits: 3,885,230
6. Acadia National Park
2021 recreational visits: 4,069,098
5. Rocky Mountain National Park
2021 recreational visits: 4,434,848
4. Grand Canyon National Park
2021 recreational visits: 4,532,677
3. Yellowstone National Park
2021 recreational visits: 4,860,242
2. Zion National Park
2021 recreational visits: 5,039,835
1. Great Smoky Mountains National Park
2021 recreational visits: 14,161,548
25 Most Visited National Park Service Sites in 2021
Across the entire NPS system, these were the most visited National Park Service units in 2021.
- Blue Ridge Parkway: 15.9 million
- Great Smoky Mountains National Park: 14.1 million
- Golden Gate National Recreation Area: 13.7 million
- Gateway National Recreation Area: 9.1 million
- Lake Mead National Recreation Area: 7.6 million
- George Washington Memorial Parkway: 6.8 million
- Natchez Trace Parkway: 6.4 million
- Lincoln Memorial: 5.8 million
- Gulf Islands National Seashore: 5.5 million
- Zion National Park: 5 million
- Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park: 5 million
- Yellowstone National Park: 4.9 million
- Grand Canyon National Park: 4.5 million
- Rocky Mountain National Park: 4.4 million
- Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area: 4.3 million
- Acadia National Park: 4 million
- Cape Cod National Seashore: 4 million
- Grand Teton National Park: 3.9 million
- World War II Memorial: 3.7 million
- Vietnam Veterans Memorial: 3.6 million
- Yosemite National Park: 3.3 million
- Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area: 3.3 million
- Cape Hatteras National Seashore: 3.2 million
- Indiana Dunes National Park: 3.2 million
- Glen Canyon National Recreation Area: 3.1 million
