By state · CA

National Parks in California.

By Nicholas Major · Last updated

California has more NPS units than any other state, over twenty-five in total, including nine of the country's sixty-three official National Parks: Yosemite, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Lassen Volcanic, Channel Islands, Redwood, and Pinnacles. The state's NPS footprint runs the full length of its 800-mile coast and across both Sierra and desert systems. SFO and OAK anchor Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon; LAX and Palm Springs International anchor the desert parks; SAN is closer to Joshua Tree. California's NPS network divides into three seasonal blocks: the Sierra parks are summer-and-fall (May through October at high elevations), the deserts are winter and early spring (November through April for safe daytime temperatures), and the coastal units are workable year-round with foggy summer mornings the dominant constraint.

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California map with place names

California National Parks map: labeled satellite map, showing 9 locations, including Channel Islands, Death Valley, Joshua Tree
California's 9 designated National Parks. Dots mark general locations, not entrances. This map does not show every NPS source record in the directory below. Map: National Sites Guide, CC BY 4.0.

Customize or download the California map. Change the names, pins and background, or download a ready-made PNG or SVG.

NPS source records in California.

California has 36 records in our combined NPS metadata and visitor-statistics registry: 8 National Parks · 7 National Monuments · 5 National Historic Trails · 4 National Historic Sites · 3 National Recreation Areas · 2 Others · 2 National Historical Parks · 1 National Preserve · 1 National Memorial · 1 National Seashore · 1 National and State Parks · 1 National Parks. This is a source-record count, not the Park Service's official system-unit census. Combined 5-year-average annual visits: 37,629,739 (multi-state units count their full visits in every state they touch, see methodology). The most-visited record is Golden Gate National Recreation Area at about 15.45M annual visits.

Map of the broader NPS source-record directory
Every National Park Service site in California, mapped. Each glowing marker is one site, placed at its real coordinates and colored by type. Select a marker for its yearly visits and a link, or use the filters to show or hide a group. 31 of 36 units are mapped here; long-distance trails and units centered in another state are in the table below.
National Park Service sites in California, mapped Interactive map of California showing the location of 31 National Park Service sites, colored by type: national parks, monuments and memorials, historic sites, recreation areas and seashores, rivers, trails and parkways, and other sites. It includes the National Parks Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks, Channel Islands National Park, Pinnacles National Park, Lassen Volcanic National Park, Sequoia National Park, Death Valley National Park, Joshua Tree National Park and Yosemite National Park. Each site is also listed with its yearly visits in the table below the map. 7 2 2 2

Marker positions are each unit's official NPS coordinates. State outline: U.S. Census cartographic boundary (public domain). Independent site, not affiliated with the National Park Service.

UnitDesignation5-yr avg visitsBusiest month
Golden Gate National Recreation Area National Recreation AreaGOGA 15,448,318 August
Yosemite National Park National ParkYOSE 3,850,487 August
Joshua Tree National Park National ParkJOTR 3,063,523 March
San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park National Historical ParkSAFR 2,622,344 July
Point Reyes National Seashore National SeashorePORE 2,428,752 July
Death Valley National Park National ParkDEVA 1,227,133 March
Sequoia National Park National ParkSEQU 1,176,245 July
Fort Point National Historic Site National Historic SiteFOPO 1,001,431 August
Whiskeytown National Recreation Area National Recreation AreaWHIS 963,619 July
Cabrillo National Monument National MonumentCABR 775,417 July
Muir Woods National Monument National MonumentMUWO 763,022 July
Mojave National Preserve National PreserveMOJA 762,761 April
Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area National Recreation AreaSAMO 749,478 May
Kings Canyon National Park National ParkKICA 665,230 July
Redwood National and State Parks National and State ParksREDW 625,749 June
Lassen Volcanic National Park National ParkLAVO 417,466 July
Pinnacles National Park National ParkPINN 332,477 April
Channel Islands National Park National ParkCHIS 292,202 July
Lava Beds National Monument National MonumentLABE 128,460 July
Devils Postpile National Monument National MonumentDEPO 113,968 July
Manzanar National Historic Site National Historic SiteMANZ 105,798 May
John Muir National Historic Site National Historic SiteJOMU 42,158 April
Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park National Historical ParkRORI 32,976 July
César E. Chávez National Monument National MonumentCECH 18,179 April
Eugene O'Neill National Historic Site National Historic SiteEUON 17,908 May
Tule Lake National Monument National MonumentTULE 3,803 July
Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial National MemorialPOCH 835 July
Alcatraz Island —ALCA — —
Butterfield Overland National Historic Trail National Historic TrailBUOV — —
California National Historic Trail National Historic TrailCALI — —
Castle Mountains National Monument National MonumentCAMO — —
Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail National Historic TrailJUBA — —
Old Spanish National Historic Trail National Historic TrailOLSP — —
Pony Express National Historic Trail National Historic TrailPOEX — —
Presidio of San Francisco —PRSF — —
Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks National ParksSEKI — —

California National Parks, ranked by visits.

Yosemite National Park is California's most-visited National Park at about 3.85M visits a year. Channel Islands National Park is the state's least visited at about 292K. This comparison includes official National Parks only, not every NPS source record in the state.

  1. 1 YosemiteAugust peak · annual average 3.85M
  2. 2 Joshua TreeMarch peak · annual average 3.06M
  3. 3 Death ValleyMarch peak · annual average 1.23M
  4. 4 SequoiaJuly peak · annual average 1.18M
  5. 5 Kings CanyonJuly peak · annual average 665K
  6. 6 Redwood National and State ParksJune peak · annual average 626K
  7. 7 Lassen VolcanicJuly peak · annual average 417K
  8. 8 PinnaclesApril peak · annual average 332K
  9. 9 Channel IslandsJuly peak · annual average 292K
Bar length compares 2021-2025 average annual recreation visits. The table shows exact averages, 2025 totals, and each park's busiest month.
#National Park5-yr avg2025 visitsBusiest month
1 Yosemite National Park 3,850,487 4,278,413 August
2 Joshua Tree National Park 3,063,523 2,932,644 March
3 Death Valley National Park 1,227,133 1,320,134 March
4 Sequoia National Park 1,176,245 1,378,337 July
5 Kings Canyon National Park 665,230 779,791 July
6 Redwood National and State Parks 625,749 1,202,480 June
7 Lassen Volcanic National Park 417,466 504,777 July
8 Pinnacles National Park 332,477 343,208 April
9 Channel Islands National Park 292,202 227,186 July

Methodology

Rows come from our combined NPS metadata and Visitor Use Statistics registry, not the Park Service's official census of 433 managed system units. Per-record visit counts come from the official NPS Visitor Use Statistics Data Package, 2025; the "5-year average visits" column is the mean of 2021-2025 Recreation Visits. Multi-state records are listed under every state they touch, and their full visit total appears in each state. Official National Park counts use the central 63-park classification rather than the source designation label alone. Independent site, not affiliated with the National Park Service.

Adjacent reading

Independence

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.

Last updated · 2026-09-10