[category]
[title]
America’s national parks are still wildly popular, but a new report reveals where the crowds are thickest and where they’re thinning—and why your next trip might require a little more strategy.
RECOMMENDED: Yosemite vs Yellowstone: Which national park is the best?
According to newly released statistics from the National Park Service (and highlighted by USA Today), the Great Smoky Mountains National Park once again claimed the title of the most-visited national park in the country, drawing roughly 11.5 million visitors in 2025.
That’s not exactly a surprise—the park has held the top spot for decades—but the gap between it and the rest of the list is still striking. Coming in behind it are heavy hitters like Zion National Park, Yellowstone National Park and Grand Canyon National Park, all of which drew between roughly 4 and 5 million visitors last year.
In total, the U.S. park system logged about 323 million recreation visits in 2025, a slight dip from the year before but still an enormous number that underscores just how central these spaces have become to American travel. That number is especially notable during a turbulent year that included a lengthy federal shutdown and staffing shortages.
That friction between sky-high demand and limited resources is starting to shape how people experience the parks. Some destinations are experimenting with timed-entry systems to control crowd flow, while others are quietly encouraging travelers to look beyond the usual bucket-list names.
And there are plenty of alternatives. Lesser-visited parks like North Cascades in Washington or Great Basin in Nevada offer the same jaw-dropping scenery with a fraction of the foot traffic, a trend that’s gaining traction as travelers seek out quieter, more sustainable ways to explore.
For now, though, the classics still reign. Parks like Yosemite National Park and Acadia National Park continue to draw millions with their mix of accessibility and iconic views, proving that even in an era of overtourism, the pull of America’s most famous landscapes is hard to resist.
Here is the full ranking of the most-visited U.S. national parks in 2025:
1. Great Smoky Mountains National Park
2. Zion National Park
3. Yellowstone National Park
4. Grand Canyon National Park
5. Yosemite National Park
6. Rocky Mountain National Park
7. Acadia National Park
8. Grand Teton National Park
9. Olympic National Park
10. Glacier National Park
11. Cuyahoga Valley National Park
12. Joshua Tree National Park
13. Indiana Dunes National Park
14. Hot Springs National Park
15. Gateway Arch National Park
16. Bryce Canyon National Park
17. New River Gorge National Park and Preserve
18. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
19. Shenandoah National Park
20. Mount Rainier National Park
21. Arches National Park
22. Capitol Reef National Park
23. Sequoia National Park
24. Death Valley National Park
25. Redwood National Park
26. Badlands National Park
27. Haleakala National Park
28. Saguaro National Park
29. Canyonlands National Park
30. Kings Canyon National Park
31. Everglades National Park
32. Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve
33. Theodore Roosevelt National Park
34. Mammoth Cave National Park
35. White Sands National Park
36. Crater Lake National Park
37. Wind Cave National Park
38. Big Bend National Park
39. Denali National Park and Preserve
40. Lassen Volcanic National Park
41. Biscayne National Park
42. Virgin Islands National Park
43. Mesa Verde National Park
44. Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve
45. Kenai Fjords National Park
46. Carlsbad Caverns National Park
47. Pinnacles National Park
48. Petrified Forest National Park
49. Congaree National Park
50. Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
51. Channel Islands National Park
52. Guadalupe Mountains National Park
53. Voyageurs National Park
54. Great Basin National Park
55. Wrangell-St Elias National Park and Preserve
56. Dry Tortugas National Park
57. North Cascades National Park
58. National Park of American Samoa
59. Katmai National Park and Preserve
60. Isle Royale National Park
61. Lake Clark National Park and Preserve
62. Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve
63. Kobuk Valley National Park