By state · TX

National Parks in Texas.

Texas's NPS network at a glance — units, designations, visit totals, and what shapes the visiting season.

By Nicholas Major · Last updated

Texas has more than fifteen NPS units, most prominently Big Bend National Park and Guadalupe Mountains National Park — both in the Trans-Pecos high desert. Other Texas units include Padre Island National Seashore, San Antonio Missions, Lyndon B. Johnson, Amistad NRA, Rio Grande Wild & Scenic River, Chamizal, and Lake Meredith. Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW), Houston (IAH), El Paso (ELP), and Midland-Odessa (MAF) anchor different parts of the network. Big Bend's practical visiting window is late October through March — the desert is much too hot from May through September. Guadalupe Mountains is workable year-round with cooler temperatures at elevation. Padre Island and the San Antonio Missions cluster handle visits across the calendar, with summer Gulf humidity the dominant constraint. The Trans-Pecos parks (Big Bend and Guadalupe Mountains) sit far enough from any major airport that most visitors arrive after a four-to-six-hour drive from El Paso or Midland.

Every NPS unit in Texas.

Texas's 18 NPS units: 3 National Historic Trails · 3 National Historical Parks · 2 National Monuments · 2 National Recreation Areas · 2 National Parks · 2 National Historic Sites · 1 National Preserve · 1 National Memorial · 1 National Seashore · 1 Wild & Scenic River. Combined 5-year-average annual visits: 5,447,368 (multi-state units count their full visits in every state they touch — see methodology). The most-visited unit is San Antonio Missions National Historical Park at about 1.32M annual visits.

UnitDesignation5-yr avg visitsBusiest month
San Antonio Missions National Historical Park National Historical ParkSAAN 1,317,241 March
Lake Meredith National Recreation Area National Recreation AreaLAMR 1,230,442 June
Amistad National Recreation Area National Recreation AreaAMIS 881,500 May
Padre Island National Seashore National SeashorePAIS 557,623 July
Big Bend National Park National ParkBIBE 546,804 March
Big Thicket National Preserve National PreserveBITH 266,110 August
Guadalupe Mountains National Park National ParkGUMO 224,635 March
Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park National Historical ParkPAAL 166,610 February
Lyndon B Johnson National Historical Park National Historical ParkLYJO 99,571 April
Waco Mammoth National Monument National MonumentWACO 94,268 March
Fort Davis National Historic Site National Historic SiteFODA 42,377 March
Chamizal National Memorial National MemorialCHAM 12,028 October
Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument National MonumentALFL 7,933 May
Rio Grande Wild & Scenic River Wild & Scenic RiverRIGR 226 March
Blackwell School National Historic Site National Historic SiteBLSC — —
Butterfield Overland National Historic Trail National Historic TrailBUOV — —
El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail National Historic TrailELCA — —
El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail National Historic TrailELTE — —

Methodology

Unit list and per-unit 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 NPS units (Yellowstone, Death Valley, Great Smoky Mountains and others) are listed under every state they touch; the per-unit visit count is the unit's total, not a per-state share. 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 · 2026-05-19