Camping is already a wonderfully affordable way to take a vacation (especially if you already have all the gear, which admittedly can be expensive)—but what if you could take advantage of absolutely free campsites? That would make you feel like you won on top of winning. As reported by Narcity, a study run by Adventures on the Rock looked at all 50 states to determine which are the best for camping based on a variety of factors. And the clear winner?
It’s Wyoming! Here, there are 44.55 free campsites per 100,000 people. Along with all the free camping, there are also seven national parks that fall within Montana’s border, including Yellowstone (which also spans small parts of Montana and Idaho) and Grand Teton National Park. This state also has the third highest number of hiking trails in the US (350 per 100,000 residents).
Second in the list? Montana, with 31.97 free campsites per 100,000 people. It has the most hiking trails in the nation (418 per 100,000) and access to beautiful Glacier National Park.
And New Mexico’s in third place, with 17.70 free campsites per 100,000 residents.
Here are the remaining top 10 best states for free camping, and in parentheses the number of free campsites per 100,000 residents:
4. Idaho (17.48)
5. Utah (12.57)
6. Colorado (12.40)
7. Arizona (8.03)
8. Washington (7.36)
9. West Virginia (5.75)
10. Virginia (5.54
While our story focuses on the states with the most free campgrounds, the overall study looked at a bunch of different factors such as diversity of wildlife, days of average rainfall, how frequently its national parks have visitor deaths, the number of hiking trails, preponderance of RV parks, and more. So in the larger study, the top three states, in order, were also (surprise!) Wyoming, Montana and New Mexico. Learn more here.