Acadia by the year.
Each point is the park's total recreation visits for that calendar year, drawn from the official NPS Visitor Use Statistics Data Package, 2025 (Statistic = TRV, summed from monthly to annual). The full 1979-2025 history is shown: 47 years. The line traces the long-run shape; the orange dot marks the peak year and the teal dot marks the lowest. The table below carries every year's exact count and its year-over-year change.
| Year | Recreation visits | YoY | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | 2,787,366 | ||
| 1980 | 2,779,666 | -0.3% | |
| 1981 | 2,997,972 | +7.9% | |
| 1982 | 3,572,114 | +19.2% | |
| 1983 | 4,124,639 | +15.5% | |
| 1984 | 3,734,763 | -9.5% | |
| 1985 | 3,745,570 | +0.3% | |
| 1986 | 3,929,054 | +4.9% | |
| 1987 | 4,288,154 | +9.1% | |
| 1988 | 4,502,283 | +5.0% | |
| 1989 | 5,440,952 | +20.8% | |
| 1990 | 2,339,591 | -57.0% | |
| 1991 | 2,475,857 | +5.8% | |
| 1992 | 2,382,113 | -3.8% | |
| 1993 | 2,656,034 | +11.5% | |
| 1994 | 2,710,749 | +2.1% | |
| 1995 | 2,845,378 | +5.0% | |
| 1996 | 2,704,831 | -4.9% | |
| 1997 | 2,760,306 | +2.1% | |
| 1998 | 2,594,497 | -6.0% | |
| 1999 | 2,602,227 | +0.3% | |
| 2000 | 2,469,238 | -5.1% | |
| 2001 | 2,516,551 | +1.9% | |
| 2002 | 2,558,572 | +1.7% | |
| 2003 | 2,431,062 | -5.0% | |
| 2004 | 2,207,847 | -9.2% | |
| 2005 | 2,051,484 | -7.1% | |
| 2006 | 2,083,588 | +1.6% | |
| 2007 | 2,202,228 | +5.7% | |
| 2008 | 2,075,857 | -5.7% | |
| 2009 | 2,227,698 | +7.3% | |
| 2010 | 2,504,208 | +12.4% | |
| 2011 | 2,374,645 | -5.2% | |
| 2012 | 2,431,052 | +2.4% | |
| 2013 | 2,254,922 | -7.2% | |
| 2014 | 2,563,129 | +13.7% | |
| 2015 | 2,811,184 | +9.7% | |
| 2016 | 3,303,393 | +17.5% | NPS centennial bump |
| 2017 | 3,509,271 | +6.2% | |
| 2018 | 3,537,575 | +0.8% | |
| 2019 | 3,437,286 | -2.8% | |
| 2020 | 2,669,034 | -22.4% | Reduced ops · pandemic |
| 2021 | 4,069,098 | +52.5% | All-time record |
| 2022 | 3,970,260 | -2.4% | |
| 2023 | 3,879,890 | -2.3% | |
| 2024 | 3,961,661 | +2.1% | |
| 2025 | 4,079,318 | +3.0% | New all-time record |
What the trend says
Acadia's annual recreation visits over the full 1979-2025 dataset are unusually shaped by an NPS counting-methodology change at the 1989-1990 boundary. The dataset begins in 1979 at roughly 2.79 million, climbed through the 1980s into a high-3-to-low-4-million range, and shows a 1989 peak of 5.44 million; the highest reading in the entire 47-year series, but produced under a different counting methodology than the years that follow. The 1990 reading of 2.34 million reflects that methodology adjustment rather than a real-world collapse in visitation; treating 1989 as a methodology-era boundary rather than a head-to-head comparison is the honest read. From 1990 onward the series is internally consistent.
The 1990s ran in the 2.3-to-2.85 million range with a post-1990 decade mean near 2.55 million. The 2000s declined into the all-time post-1990 low of 2.05 million in 2005, and the 2000s decade mean was about 2.34 million, Acadia's quietest sustained decade. The 2010s reversed that arc decisively: visits crossed 3 million in 2016 with the NPS Centennial and reached 3.54 million by 2018. The pandemic year 2020 dipped to 2.67 million, milder than the network average because Acadia's domestic Northeast-drive-market catchment held up.
The all-time post-1990 peak, and the most defensible "modern record" given the 1989 methodology break, is 4.08 million in 2025, the newest year in the dataset. The post-pandemic recovery has been steady: 4.07 million in 2021, 3.97 million in 2022, 3.88 million in 2023, 3.96 million in 2024, and 4.08 million in 2025. The 36-year post-1990 mean is roughly 2.78 million; 2025 sits about 1.3 million visits above the post-1990 long-term mean and the park is running at its operational ceiling. Read across the full post-1990 window, the structural story is a 1990s-2000s plateau in the low-to-mid 2-million range, a 2010s climb into the high 3-millions, and a 2020s consolidation just above 4 million. Year-to-year movement on top of the current plateau is small. The 1989 reading should be treated as a methodology-era artifact and not chased as a target. For seasonal shape (when within the year these visits actually land) see the per-park month-by-month curve on the best-time-to-visit page.
Common questions
How many people visit Acadia each year?
Acadia recorded 4,079,318 recreation visits in 2025, the most recent full year in the official NPS record. Across the full 1979-2025 history the park has averaged about 3,020,000 visits a year.
What is Acadia's busiest year on record?
The single highest reading is 1989 at 5,440,952 visits, but that predates an NPS counting-method change at the 1989-1990 boundary. Under the consistent post-1990 method, the busiest year on record is 2025 at 4,079,318 recreation visits.
Is Acadia visitation increasing?
Acadia visitation moved +3.0% from 2024 to 2025. Over the longer run it is +45.1% versus 2015 (2,811,184 visits), so the recent trend sits well above mid-2010s levels.
What was Acadia's least-visited year?
The lowest reading in the 1979-2025 record is 2005, with 2,051,484 recreation visits, about 2,027,834 below the 2025 figure.
Methodology
Annual recreation visits come from the official NPS Visitor Use Statistics Data Package, 2025 on NPS IRMA Stats. The statistic shown is Recreation Visits, the NPS visitor-count category that excludes Tent Campers, Backcountry Campers, and Recreation Visit Hours. Annual totals are computed by summing the twelve monthly TRV (Total Recreation Visits) values for each year. The window displayed here is the full 1979-2025 history available in the NPS dataset. Independent site, not affiliated with the National Park Service.
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.