Spanning 2.2 million acres of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, Yellowstone National Park is absolutely huge. But size isn't the only impressive thing about this US national park. According to new data from the National Park Service (NPS), Yellowstone received 4,762,988 recreation visits in 2025 – a number greater than the population of Louisiana.
Visitors spent a total of 86,891,452 hours in the park, clocking an impressive 1,238,983 overnight stays, despite a 43-day partial government shutdown – Yellowstone's longest ever.
For those who have been lucky enough to spend time in Yellowstone, the latest NPS figures, published on 17 March, may not come as a surprise. The park's breathtaking landscapes and remarkable hydrothermal features are enough to draw visitors from far and wide. And then there's the wildlife.
Large wild animals found at the park include bison, elk, wolves, cougars, grizzly bears and black bears. Then there are the smaller creatures, such as bats, chipmunks, bald eagles, ospreys, rattlesnakes and trout.
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Yellowstone is not the only popular national park in the US, with the NPS reporting a total of 323,014,305 recreation visits to the protected areas in 2025, a figure slightly down on 2024 (331,863,358 visits).
In fact, you may be surprised to learn that Yellowstone is third on the list of most-visited national parks. So, how do others compare?
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US national park recreation visits 2025
The most-visited national park in the US in 2025 was the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee and North Carolina, with an enormous 11,527,939 visits. Second spot went to Zion National Park in Utah, with less than half that number (4,984,525), closely followed by Yellowstone (4,762,988).
Here are the top 10 most-visited US national parks in 2025:
- Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee and North Carolina: 11,527,939 visits
- Zion National Park, Utah: 4,984,525 visits
- Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho: 4,762,988 visits
- Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona: 4,430,653 visits
- Yosemite National Park, California: 4,278,413 visits
- Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado: 4,171,413 visits
- Acadia National Park, Maine: 4,079,318 visits
- Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming: 3,800,648 visits
- Olympic National Park, Washington: 3,584,187 visits
- Glacier National Park, Montana: 3,136,557 visits
Recording just 7,786 recreation visits, Kobuk Valley National Park in Alaska was the least-visited national park in the US in 2025.
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