Annual network totals.
This is the sum across every NPS unit that reports Recreation Visits, for each year 1979 through 2025. The full network includes National Parks, National Monuments, National Recreation Areas, National Seashores, National Historic Sites, and the other unit designations. The "parks-only" column restricts the sum to units with the official "National Park" designation.
By decade (annual average)
| Decade | Annual avg visits |
|---|---|
| 1970s | 205,369,795 |
| 1980s | 258,001,830 |
| 1990s | 272,436,406 |
| 2000s | 276,833,088 |
| 2010s | 302,426,979 |
| 2020s | 304,423,674 |
The network averaged roughly 270M annual visits across the 1980s, climbing to about 300M in the 2010s. The 2020s decade-average is still being shaped by the 2020 pandemic drop and the steady recovery since.
What's behind the swings
Three categories of disruption show up in the chart. Pandemic (2020): park closures from spring 2020 cut recorded visits by about 38% versus the prior year. Government shutdowns: the longest, in late 2018 and early 2019, didn't dent the annual total much because the system stayed open with reduced services. Wildfires and access loss: the 2023 Maui complex, the 2025 Dragon Bravo fire at Grand Canyon's North Rim, and the 2022 Yellowstone flood event reduced specific-park totals but moved the network number only modestly.
For the seasonal shape of those visits — when in the year the network is busiest — see visitation by month. For park-level breakdowns of the same data, see the most-visited and least-visited rankings.
Methodology
Visit counts are official "Recreation Visits" from the NPS Visitor Use Statistics Data Package, 2025. The five-year average column averages 2021-2025 to reduce single-year noise; the latest-year column shows the most recent complete calendar year. Some NPS units publish other statistic types (Tent Campers, Recreation Visit Hours) that are not used here. Independent site, not affiliated with the National Park Service. Network total includes every NPS unit that reports Recreation Visits in the Visitor Use Statistics data package. Parks-only restricts the sum to units with the 'National Park' designation as recorded in the NPS Data API.
Independent site. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the National Park Service. Data comes from the official NPS Visitor Use Statistics Data Package, 2025; editorial analysis is ours. The NPS Arrowhead and other NPS marks are not used.