(WXYZ) — The National Parks Service released its list of the most-visited and least-visited national parks for 2023, while also breaking down how many people visited parks around the country.
According to the National Parks Service, 400 national parks reported a total of 325.5 million visitors last year, up 13% (13 million) from 2022. There were also 20 parks that broke visitation records in 2023.
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The National Parks Service data shows that Isle Royale National Park was among the least-visited in the country. Of the national parks, Isle Royale came in No. 59 of 63 national parks with 28,965 visitors. That accounts for just .03% of the visitors to national parks this year.
The least-visited park is Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve in Alaska. It's the northern-most national park in the U.S. and had 11,045 visitors.
According to the NPS, Keweenaw National Historic Park did set a record number of visitors for 2023. The historical site in the Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan's Upper Peninsula tells the story of copper on the peninsula and has a variety of historic structures and landscapes.
Below are the top 10 most-visited and the least-visited national parks in the United States for 2023.
Most-Visited
- Great Smoky Mountains National Park - 13.297 million
- Grand Canyon National Park - 4.73 million
- Zion National Park - 4.62 million
- Yellowstone National Park - 4.5 million
- Rocky Mountain National Park - 4.11 million
- Yosemite National Park - 3.89 million
- Acadia National Park - 3.87 million
- Grand Teton National Park - 3.41 million
- Joshua Tree National Park - 3.27 million
- Olympic National Park - 2.94 million
Least-Visited
- Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve - 11,045
- National Park of American Samoa - 12,135
- Lake Clark National Park and Preserve - 16,728
- Kobuk Valley National Park - 17,616
- Isle Royale National Park - 28,965
- Katmai National Park and Preserve - 33,763
- North Cascades National Park - 40,351
- Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve - 78,305
- Dry Tortugas National Park - 84,285
- Great Basin National Park - 143,265
