Park facts & stats

Question 1

How many designated 'National Parks' are there in the U.S.?

Accepted Answer

63. The 63 National Parks are only a small slice of the 433 units the Park Service manages.

Question 2

About how many visits did Great Smoky Mountains, the most-visited National Park, get in 2025?

Accepted Answer

11,527,939 visits. It led the 'National Park' category by a wide margin; second-place Zion recorded just under 5 million visits.

Question 3

How many National Park Service sites set new visitation records in 2025?

Accepted Answer

26 parks. Records were set as total system-wide visits came in at more than 323 million.

Question 4

For a typical U.S. local park agency, how many residents are served per park?

Accepted Answer

one park for every 2,437 residents. The benchmark comes from the association's annual review of local park and recreation agencies across the U.S.

Question 5

How many acres of parkland per 1,000 residents does a typical U.S. local park agency provide?

Accepted Answer

10 acres per 1,000 residents. The same benchmarking report found one park for every 2,437 residents served.

Question 6

What share of U.S. residents visited a public park at least once in the past year?

Accepted Answer

88%. More than half (54%) said they want to spend more time outside, and 71% use parks to be more physically active.

The basics