ZION NATIONAL PARK – A record number of people visited national parks in 2024, according to new data from the National Park Service.
There were 331.9 million visits to national park units across the country, up more than 6 million visits from 2023. A total of 28 NPS units set new visitation records in 2024.
This is significant given the Trump administration’s layoffs to the National Park Service, in which 1,000 full time employees were fired. Supporters of the move point out that seasonal workers will be hired. Originally, the White House planned to cut seasonal workers, too, but backtracked after severe backlash to the idea.
The New York Times reports that an internal memo was sent to the NPS directing the agency not to issue a press release or post on social media about the visitation data.
Here is a list of the most visited national parks in 2024:
- Great Smoky Mountains, 12.2 million
- Zion, 4.95 million
- Grand Canyon, 4.92 million
- Yellowstone, 4.7 million
- Rocky Mountain, 4.15 million
- Yosemite, 4.1 million
- Acadia, 3.9 million
- Olympic, 3.7 million
- Grand Teton, 3.6 million
- Glacier, 3.2 million
The most notable changes from 2023 are that Zion moved passed Grand Canyon into the no. 2 position, while Montana’s Glacier National Park made it into the top 10, bumping Joshua Tree out.
The tally above focuses only on national parks and does not include other NPS units, including national recreation areas or national monuments.
Related: Here are the 10 Least Visited National Parks of the Year
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