Mount Rainier 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 | 1,516,703 | ||
| 1980 | 1,268,256 | -16.4% | |
| 1981 | 1,233,671 | -2.7% | |
| 1982 | 1,007,300 | -18.3% | |
| 1983 | 1,106,306 | +9.8% | |
| 1984 | 1,152,411 | +4.2% | |
| 1985 | 1,165,640 | +1.1% | |
| 1986 | 1,298,457 | +11.4% | |
| 1987 | 1,292,027 | -0.5% | |
| 1988 | 1,255,618 | -2.8% | |
| 1989 | 1,354,302 | +7.9% | |
| 1990 | 1,327,101 | -2.0% | |
| 1991 | 1,549,412 | +16.8% | |
| 1992 | 1,522,057 | -1.8% | |
| 1993 | 1,365,213 | -10.3% | |
| 1994 | 1,426,244 | +4.5% | |
| 1995 | 1,438,227 | +0.8% | |
| 1996 | 1,338,961 | -6.9% | |
| 1997 | 1,315,773 | -1.7% | |
| 1998 | 1,353,793 | +2.9% | |
| 1999 | 1,291,397 | -4.6% | |
| 2000 | 1,344,833 | +4.1% | |
| 2001 | 1,301,103 | -3.3% | |
| 2002 | 1,310,390 | +0.7% | |
| 2003 | 1,262,351 | -3.7% | |
| 2004 | 1,217,750 | -3.5% | |
| 2005 | 1,173,897 | -3.6% | |
| 2006 | 1,113,601 | -5.1% | |
| 2007 | 1,047,685 | -5.9% | |
| 2008 | 1,163,227 | +11.0% | |
| 2009 | 1,151,654 | -1.0% | |
| 2010 | 1,191,754 | +3.5% | |
| 2011 | 1,038,229 | -12.9% | |
| 2012 | 1,049,178 | +1.1% | |
| 2013 | 1,148,552 | +9.5% | |
| 2014 | 1,264,259 | +10.1% | |
| 2015 | 1,237,231 | -2.1% | |
| 2016 | 1,356,913 | +9.7% | |
| 2017 | 1,415,867 | +4.3% | |
| 2018 | 1,518,491 | +7.2% | |
| 2019 | 1,501,621 | -1.1% | |
| 2020 | 1,160,754 | -22.7% | Reduced ops · pandemic · staged reopening |
| 2021 | 1,670,063 | +43.9% | |
| 2022 | 1,622,395 | -2.9% | |
| 2023 | 1,674,294 | +3.2% | Recent record |
| 2024 | 1,620,006 | -3.2% | First year of timed-entry reservation system |
| 2025 | 1,635,342 | +0.9% |
What the trend says
Mount Rainier's annual recreation visits over the full 1979-2025 dataset trace a long, lumpy plateau rather than a clean growth arc. The dataset begins in 1979 at roughly 1.52 million visits, with the dataset trough at 1.01 million in 1982; the only year in the full 47-year series below 1.05 million and the trace's deepest reading by a wide margin. The 1980s ran in the 1.0-to-1.4 million range with a decade mean near 1.21 million as the park recovered from that early 1980s low. The 1990s pushed visits into the 1.2-to-1.6 million range with a decade mean near 1.39 million, helped by Pacific Northwest population growth and broader Cascades interest. The 2000s actually drifted downward into a 1.0-to-1.4 million band, with the decade mean near 1.21 million, essentially a return to 1980s levels.
The 2010s rebuilt the trace into a 1.3-to-1.5 million band with a decade mean near 1.27 million. The short Sunrise Road season overlaps the park's compressed summer visitation pattern, but the annual series cannot quantify its effect. Visits reached 1.50 million in 2019 and fell to 1.16 million in 2020 amid the pandemic closure and staged reopening.
Visits reached 1.67 million in 2021 and again in the record year 2023. The first timed-entry season for the Paradise and Sunrise corridors was 2024, when visits were 1.62 million; 2025 recorded 1.64 million. The annual series documents the timing but cannot separate reservation rules from road access, wildfire smoke, weather, or demand. For seasonal shape, see the per-park month-by-month curve on the best-time-to-visit page.
Common questions
How many people visit Mount Rainier each year?
Mount Rainier recorded 1,635,342 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 1,310,000 visits a year.
What is Mount Rainier's busiest year on record?
The busiest year in the 1979-2025 record is 2023, with 1,674,294 recreation visits. The most recent year, 2025, came in at 1,635,342.
Is Mount Rainier visitation increasing?
Mount Rainier visitation moved +0.9% from 2024 to 2025. Over the longer run it is +32.2% versus 2015 (1,237,231 visits), so the recent trend sits well above mid-2010s levels.
What was Mount Rainier's least-visited year?
The lowest reading in the 1979-2025 record is 1982, with 1,007,300 recreation visits, about 628,042 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 values for each year. The window displayed here is the full 1979-2025 history available in the dataset. NPS says a 43-day partial federal shutdown affected 2025 visitation statistics; closures, reduced operations, and counting disruption can distort park-level comparisons, especially October. Annual totals describe recorded visits and do not by themselves prove why visitation changed. 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.