The National Park Service provides the most prestigious rankings through live visit data collected at over 400 sites, including 63 national parks. (Photo credit Brendan Smialowski/AFP Getty Images)
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The U.S. National Park Service was on the crosshairs with President Donald Trump's budget proposal to cut more than $1.2 billion along with the filing of 1,000 Park Service employees. Following the backlash, the administration announced an increase in the number of seasonal workers.
But can those temporary workers handle the attention that has been driven out by competition between parks? Rankings for American national parks have become more like the cottage industry. Travel websites, magazines and organizations rank the parks from the best to the worst and feature them on lists that promote niche aspects.
Winter at El Pitan in Yosemite National Park, California. (Photo: Camerique/Getty Images)
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The National Park Service provides the most prestigious rankings through raw visit data collected from over 400 sites, including 63 national parks. What parks have you been visited the most? It continues to be Great Smoky Mountains National Park. In 2024, there were 12,191,834 visits.
Next up is Zion National Park with 4,946,592 visits and 4,919,163 visits at Grand Canyon National Park. The top ten list also includes Yellowstone (4,744,353), Rocky Mountain National Park (4,154,349), Yosemite (4,121,807), Acadia (3,961,661), Olympics (3,717,267), Grand Teton (3,628,222) and Graciier nationals.
Travel publications create their own rankings by taking into account the criteria that appeal to visitors. These rankings include considerations such as accessibility, natural beauty, scenic diversity, hiking opportunities, viewing the best wildlife (and any type of wildlife), and the overall scope of activities offered.
“Instagrammable” national park is popular
Social media is driving a major trend in rankings. When other variables can grasp what makes a national park desirable, “instagrammable” parks often attract extraordinary attention, only because of their impressive beauty.
Hike across the river in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
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A large number of travel blogs rank national parks. The blog “Trip of a Lifestyle” was understood through three factors: “Wow Factor”, “Fun Factor”, and “Crowd Factor”. Lauren and Stephen Keyes visited all national parks and took photos before the rankings. According to their blog, after “months of nonstop trips and dozens of hours of discussion,” they came up with a definitive personal list.
The key concluded that seven national parks will be number one: Death Valley (hottest place on the planet, but feel different world), Yosemite, Hawaiian volcanoes, Yellowstone, American Samoa (“There are wild dogs all over the island”), and Carlsbadabas (there are massive underground caves. The best secrets of the national park system.”
Some national parks are “really boring,” says travel blogger
Travel blogger Lee Abbamonte ranked all 63 parks based on his preferences and experience. Yosemite is on his list. “Yosemite is big, with iconic hikes like the half-dome, with amazing waterfalls, trees and scenery,” writes Abbamonte on his blog. “The tunnel view at sunset is America's most beautiful view when half the dome turns orange at the top.”
Arkansas' Hot Springs National Park was at the bottom of Abbamonte's list, with thermal springs, hiking trails and nine historic baths. He says the park is “really boring and not interesting, so I can't understand why it's a national park in the first place.”
Quarpovas is located in Ark Springs, in the baths line at Hot Springs National Park (AP Photo/Beth Hullpaz)
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What national parks are the least visited? The gates of the Arctic National Park and Reserve were recorded in 2024 only 11,907 visits.
However, these remote parks are ranked highly by wilderness groups who value their pristine nature, no matter how difficult it is to actually reach.
Forbes ranked national parks based on crowd size. This is an increasingly important factor given its popularity. Author Joe Yogerst compiled 10 parks not crushed by urban crowds: Black Canyon in Gunnison (Colorado), Channel Islands (California), Congaree (South Carolina), Drite Lutgas (Florida), Great Basin (Nevada), Mount Guadalupe (Texas), North Royal (Michigan) and Navigator (Minnesota).
Crown the global king of national parks
Female leopard relaxes on dead tree branches in Kruger National Park, South Africa. (Photo: Tom Stoddart/Getty Images)
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The best races have recently become global. In March, the Association of Nonprofit National Parks launched “The World's Best National Parks.” This is a year-long campaign that allows the public to vote for their favorites. The campaign dates are from March 18, 2025 to June 11, 2028. Website visitors can vote for one park per day. The campaign has three phases.
Phase 1: Votes determine the best national park in the country, and the park with the most votes proceeds to Phase 2. Phase 1 will be held until March 17th, 2026. In Phase 2, major parks in each country compete within their own continents. Voting is from March 18, 2026 to March 17, 2027. Phase 3 is fighting each other in the competition to win the “World's Best National Parks” title. Voting is from March 18, 2027 to June 11, 2028.
Yosemite National Park is currently leading the race, followed by Mukomaji National Park in northeastern Tanzania and Kruger National Park in northeastern South Africa.
