Redwood 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 | 413,917 | ||
| 1980 | 471,710 | +14.0% | |
| 1981 | 549,461 | +16.5% | |
| 1982 | 467,126 | -15.0% | |
| 1983 | 473,711 | +1.4% | |
| 1984 | 467,155 | -1.4% | |
| 1985 | 505,791 | +8.3% | |
| 1986 | 567,849 | +12.3% | |
| 1987 | 610,897 | +7.6% | |
| 1988 | 677,135 | +10.8% | |
| 1989 | 654,115 | -3.4% | |
| 1990 | 348,458 | -46.7% | |
| 1991 | 366,280 | +5.1% | |
| 1992 | 387,781 | +5.9% | |
| 1993 | 421,027 | +8.6% | |
| 1994 | 475,033 | +12.8% | |
| 1995 | 552,464 | +16.3% | |
| 1996 | 426,938 | -22.7% | |
| 1997 | 382,488 | -10.4% | |
| 1998 | 383,188 | +0.2% | |
| 1999 | 369,726 | -3.5% | |
| 2000 | 383,253 | +3.7% | |
| 2001 | 388,352 | +1.3% | |
| 2002 | 404,789 | +4.2% | |
| 2003 | 408,126 | +0.8% | |
| 2004 | 392,029 | -3.9% | |
| 2005 | 394,144 | +0.5% | |
| 2006 | 383,780 | -2.6% | |
| 2007 | 385,171 | +0.4% | |
| 2008 | 396,899 | +3.0% | |
| 2009 | 444,426 | +12.0% | |
| 2010 | 418,820 | -5.8% | |
| 2011 | 380,167 | -9.2% | |
| 2012 | 352,517 | -7.3% | |
| 2013 | 393,364 | +11.6% | |
| 2014 | 429,166 | +9.1% | |
| 2015 | 527,143 | +22.8% | |
| 2016 | 536,297 | +1.7% | |
| 2017 | 445,000 | -17.0% | |
| 2018 | 482,536 | +8.4% | |
| 2019 | 504,722 | +4.6% | |
| 2020 | 265,177 | -47.5% | Reduced ops · pandemic |
| 2021 | 435,879 | +64.4% | |
| 2022 | 458,400 | +5.2% | |
| 2023 | 409,105 | -10.8% | |
| 2024 | 622,883 | +52.3% | Counting method improving |
| 2025 | 1,202,480 | +93.1% | New counting method · not real growth |
What the trend says
Redwood National Park's annual recreation visits over the full 1979-2025 dataset are best read as two eras split by a counting-method change, much like Acadia's 1989-1990 break. The dataset begins in 1979 at about 414,000 visits and ran, under the older counting method, mostly in a 400,000-to-680,000 band for four decades. The pre-2024 high is 1988 at about 677,000; the 2010s settled lower, in the 445,000-to-536,000 range, with most recent years between 400,000 and 540,000. These are the National Park's own numbers: the NPS Visitor Use Statistics unit REDW counts Redwood National Park, while the three cooperatively managed California state parks (Jedediah Smith, Del Norte Coast, Prairie Creek Redwoods) are tallied separately.
The all-time low in the full series is 265,177 in 2020, the pandemic-closure year, the only reading in the dataset below 390,000. Recovery from 2020 was gradual and unremarkable through 2023 (436,000 in 2021, 458,000 in 2022, 409,000 in 2023), keeping the park within its long-standing band. Nothing in the demand story suggests a step change.
Then the raw trace jumps: 622,883 in 2024 and 1,202,480 in 2025. Per the NPS, that increase is "mostly attributed to improved visitor counting methods," estimated from trail counters, visitor-center contacts, and bookstore sales, rather than a real doubling of visitation. Treating 2024-2025 as a methodology-era shift, not a head-to-head record, is the honest read; the raw 2025 figure is the highest in the dataset only because the counting changed. Because that figure sits so far above every prior year, even the full-series average is pulled upward and should not be read as a typical year. For scale, the full joint unit (National Park plus the three state parks) drew about 2.5 million in 2025. The reliable signal for how the park has actually trended is the pre-2024 series and the within-year shape. For seasonal shape (when within the year these visits land) see the per-park month-by-month curve on the best-time-to-visit page.
Common questions
How many people visit Redwood each year?
Redwood recorded 1,202,480 recreation visits in 2025, but that figure reflects an improved NPS counting method introduced in 2024-2025, not a real jump. Under the earlier method the park ran in the 400,000-to-540,000 range for most recent decades.
What is Redwood's busiest year on record?
The single highest reading is 2025 at 1,202,480 visits, but that reflects an improved NPS counting method introduced in 2024-2025, not a real doubling. Under the earlier method the park's busiest years ran near 677,000 (1988) and 500,000 to 540,000 in the 2010s.
Is Redwood visitation increasing?
Redwood National Park's reported counts rose sharply across 2024-2025, but that reflects an improved NPS counting method (trail counters, visitor-center contacts, bookstore sales), not real growth. Before the change the park ran in the 400,000-to-540,000 range for most of the 2010s, so comparisons across the 2023-2025 boundary are not like-for-like.
What was Redwood's least-visited year?
The lowest reading in the 1979-2025 record is 2020, with 265,177 recreation visits, about 937,303 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 (Redwood National Park), 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.