In honour of National Parks Week in the United States, we’re exploring the U.S. National Parks. In this story, we dig into the most visited national parks, parks with the most species of animals, and more. We turned to Wikipedia for a few details — names of the national parks, GPS coordinates of the parks, and the size of the parks by area — and the National Park Service for data related to visitor statistics, and the species of animals found within the boundaries of each park. So, let’s dive right in.

Key takeaways

• There are 63 national parks in the United States across 30 states and two territories; 14 national parks are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

• California holds the record for the state or territory with nine national parks; Alaska is second with eight.

• More than 92 million people visited U.S. National Parks in 2023, up 4% from 2022. Between 2014 and 2023, U.S. national parks have averaged 85 million visitors per year.

• Great Smoky Mountain was the most visited national park that year with more than 13 million visitors — it tends to be the most visited park each year; the least visited national park in 2023 was Gates of the Arctic National Park with just over 11,000 visitors.

• Wrangell-St. Elias in Alaska is the largest national park. It is 33,682 square kilometres, roughly the same size as the State of Maryland. Seven of the top 10 largest parks by area are located in Alaska.

• Biscayne boasts the most species of animals with an impressive 839 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish within its boundaries.

On March 1, 1872, U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act into law. With a pen stroke, the first national park in the United States and the world was born. About 96% of Yellowstone National Park is in Wyoming, 3% in Montana and 1% in Idaho. Yellowstone is noted for geysers. It has the world’s largest concentration of geysers — more than 300 or about two-thirds of the geysers in the world — with the most famous being Old Faithful.

The first expansion of the parks system came in 1890 when Sequoia and Yosemite were established. Over the years, more parks would be added giving Americans and visitors from around the world more opportunities to connect with nature. The highest number of national parks established in a single calendar year is nine. That happened in 1980 with the creation of Channel Islands in California, Biscayne in Florida, and seven national parks in Alaska — Gates of the Arctic, Glacier Bay, Katmai, Kenai Fjords, Kobuk Valley, Lake Clark, and Wregnall-St. Elias. The latest park to be added to the network is New River Gorge. It was made a national park in 2020.

Today, the U.S. national parks system boasts 63 parks, 14 of which have been designated United Nations World Heritage Sites — Carlsbad Caverns, Everglades, Glacier, Glacier Bay, Grand Canyon, Great Smoky Mountain, Hawaii Volcanoes, Mammoth Cave, Mesa Verde, Olympic, Redwood, Wrangell-St. Elias, Yellowstone, and Yosemite.

Together, U.S. national parks make up about 212,000 square kilometres, roughly 2% of the area of the United States. The largest park within the system by area is Wrangell-St. Elias in Alaska. It’s 33,682 square kilometres, roughly the size of the State of Maryland. The smallest park in the system is Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis, Missouri. It’s only 0.8 square kilometres, just under a quarter of the size of Central Park in New York City.

The parks are administered by the National Park Service, an agency of the Department of the Interior founded by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916. Its mission is to: “preserve unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the National Park System for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations.”

Where national parks are located

U.S. National Parks are renowned for their beautiful landscapes, unique geological features, and breathtaking views. With 63 national parks, one would assume that you’ll be able to find one in each U.S. state, but that is not the case. Only 30 states and two territories have at least one national park or part of a national park within their borders. About a quarter of national parks are found in just two states — California with nine and Alaska with eight. They are followed by Utah with five, and Colorado with four.

The states without national parks include: Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.

Check out the interactive map for some information about each of the parks.

The most popular national parks

Each year, millions of people flock to U.S. national parks. Between 2014 and 2023, U.S. National Parks have seen a steady increase in visitors, recording an average of 85 million visits annually. They are popular destinations for hikers, backcountry enthusiasts, avid campers, and anyone interested in taking in the beauty that nature has to offer. Park attendance in 2023 reached an all-time high with 92,390,204 visitors, up 4% from 2022 and slightly higher than the previous record of 92,251,857 visitors set in 2021.

So, which national park had the most visitors? That prize goes to Great Smoky Mountain National Park in North Carolina. It welcomed more than 13.2 million visitors through its gates in 2023, more than twice the number of people as second-place Grand Canyon National Park with 4.7 million visitors. The next closest are Zion National Park, Yellowstone National Park, and Rocky Mountain National Park with 4.6 million, 4.5 million, and 4.1 million visitors respectively. The five least visited parks were Isle Royale, Kobuk Valley, Lake Clark, American Samoa, and Gates of the Arctic. These five are also some of the most remote parks. Gates of the Arctic is the northernmost national park, and its lack of roads makes it difficult to get to, one of the main reasons it’s the least visited park. Five out of the ten least visited parks are located in Alaska.

More than half the parks recorded more than 703,659 visitors, and the average number of visitors per park during 2023 was 1,466,511. The graphs below show the ten most and ten least visited national parks in 2023.

Exploring the biodiversity of national parks

One of the core responsibilities of the National Park Service is to protect and preserve the biodiversity within its network of parks. To help understand how to protect species that call the parks home, the NPS has been compiling information on flora and fauna for specific parks and has made the information publicly available through a database called NPSpecies. We used the information to create charts related to animals — mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish — and plants that are present throughout the National Parks System. Our charts only include records where the occurrence is listed as present and the record status is approved.

So, where are the best places to catch a glimpse of wildlife? When it comes to the number of animal species, Biscayne National Park in Florida takes the grand prize. It boasts an impressive 839 animal species. More than two-thirds of them are fish. It’s not surprising considering the park is 95% water. It’s estimated that 229 species of birds are present in the park, including the brown pelican, tricolored heron, and wood stork among others.

While Biscayne may hold the record for most animal species, Grand Canyon National Park is the leader in the variety of mammals and birds that call the park home. Grand Canyon has 91 species of mammals and 471 species of birds within its boundaries. The park with the least animal species is Haleakalā National Park.

We hope you enjoyed our overview of U.S. national parks. Our team members really enjoyed putting this story together. As avid hikers, we love visiting conversation areas, national parks, and provincial parks etc. We’re looking forward to checking out a few parks covered in this story. If you want to learn more about U.S. national parks, check out the National Park Service website. National Geographic also has an excellent documentary series of national parks on their YouTube channel.

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