The ten U.S. national parks with the most recreation visits in 2025, from Great Smoky Mountains National Park's 11,527,939 to Glacier National Park's 3,136,557, per National Park Service counts.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park was the most-visited U.S. national park in 2025, with 11,527,939 recreation visits. Zion National Park was second at 4,984,525 and Yellowstone National Park third at 4,762,988. The ranking uses National Park Service 2025 recreation visits for designated national parks only, via Wikipedia's national parks list (October 22, 2026).
The busiest U.S. national park leads by a wide margin. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, on the North Carolina-Tennessee line, has been the most-visited national park since 1944, and in 2025 it drew more than twice as many recreation visits as second-place Zion. By state, Wyoming and Montana each appear twice in the top ten (Wyoming through Yellowstone and Grand Teton, Montana through Yellowstone and Glacier); Utah, Arizona, California, Colorado, Maine and Washington each appear once, and North Carolina, Tennessee and Idaho appear only through parks shared with other states. This list ranks designated national parks only, not the other units of the National Park System, most of which carry other formal designations such as national monument or national preserve, by recreation visits in calendar year 2025. Together the ten parks here recorded 48,756,659 recreation visits.
Great Smoky Mountains recorded 11,527,939 recreation visits in 2025, far ahead of every other national park. Hiking is its main attraction, with more than 800 miles of trails, including 70 miles of the Appalachian Trail.
Zion drew 4,984,525 recreation visits in 2025. The Utah park sits where the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin and Mojave Desert meet, with sandstone mesas, rock towers and canyons including the Virgin River Narrows.
Yellowstone, the first national park, had 4,762,988 recreation visits in 2025. It sits on the Yellowstone Caldera, with geothermal features such as Grand Prismatic Spring and Old Faithful.
Grand Canyon logged 4,430,653 recreation visits in 2025. Carved by the Colorado River, the canyon is 277 miles long and up to a mile deep, seen from trails on the north and south rims.
Yosemite had 4,278,413 recreation visits in 2025. Half Dome and El Capitan rise above the glacier-carved Yosemite Valley, and Yosemite Falls drops 2,425 feet from its walls.
Rocky Mountain recorded 4,171,431 recreation visits in 2025. The Colorado park is bisected by the Continental Divide, and Trail Ridge Road climbs above 12,000 feet.
Acadia drew 4,079,318 recreation visits in 2025. It covers most of Maine's Mount Desert Island and includes the tallest mountain on the U.S. Atlantic coast.
Grand Teton had 3,800,648 recreation visits in 2025. Its namesake is the tallest mountain in the Teton Range, which rises abruptly above the park's historic Jackson Hole valley.
Olympic logged 3,584,187 recreation visits in 2025. The Washington park runs from Pacific shoreline through the Hoh and Quinault rainforests to the glaciated Olympic Mountains.
Glacier rounds out the top ten with 3,136,557 recreation visits in 2025. The Montana park is the U.S. half of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park and home to the landmark Going-to-the-Sun Road.
| # | Name | State(s) | Established as park | UNESCO designation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Great Smoky Mountains National Park | North Carolina, Tennessee | June 15, 1934 | World Heritage Site; Biosphere Reserve |
| 2 | Zion National Park | Utah | November 19, 1919 | None |
| 3 | Yellowstone National Park | Wyoming, Montana, Idaho | March 1, 1872 | World Heritage Site; Biosphere Reserve |
| 4 | Grand Canyon National Park | Arizona | February 26, 1919 | World Heritage Site |
| 5 | Yosemite National Park | California | October 1, 1890 | World Heritage Site |
| 6 | Rocky Mountain National Park | Colorado | January 26, 1915 | Biosphere Reserve |
| 7 | Acadia National Park | Maine | February 26, 1919 | None |
| 8 | Grand Teton National Park | Wyoming | February 26, 1929 | Biosphere Reserve |
| 9 | Olympic National Park | Washington | June 29, 1938 | World Heritage Site; Biosphere Reserve |
| 10 | Glacier National Park | Montana | May 11, 1910 | World Heritage Site; Biosphere Reserve |
Parks are ranked by recreation visits in calendar year 2025, as given in the 'Recreation visitors (2025)' column of the main table in Wikipedia's 'List of national parks of the United States' (revision 1381444674, October 22, 2026). That column cites the National Park Service's Annual Park Ranking Report for Recreation Visits in 2025 (NPS Stats); the NPS report itself was not opened, so every figure here was read from the Wikipedia table. Only units designated as national parks are included; other National Park System units, such as national monuments and national preserves, are excluded. That revision lists 64 national parks, including Chiricahua in Arizona, previously a national monument, which the table lists as established as a park on October 20, 2026, with 70,406 recreation visits in its 2025 column, far outside the top ten. Cuyahoga Valley (Ohio, 3,025,325) is 11th. Only 2025 figures are used; no other year is mixed in. There are no ties. State(s), establishment date and UNESCO designations come from the same table. 'More than twice' compares Great Smoky Mountains' 11,527,939 visits with Zion's 4,984,525 (a ratio of about 2.31); the 48,756,659 total is the sum of the ten figures shown.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park, in North Carolina and Tennessee, with 11,527,939 recreation visits in 2025. Wikipedia's list notes it has been the most-visited national park since 1944.
Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio ranked 11th, with 3,025,325 recreation visits, about 111,000 fewer than 10th-place Glacier's 3,136,557.
No. Only units designated as national parks are ranked. Most National Park System units carry other formal designations, such as national monuments or national preserves, and those are excluded here.
They are the 2025 recreation visitor counts in Wikipedia's list of national parks of the United States (revision 1381444674, October 22, 2026), whose 'Recreation visitors (2025)' column cites the National Park Service's Annual Park Ranking Report for Recreation Visits in 2025.
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