Established in 1916 to manage 35 areas previously selected for federal preservation, today the National Park Service protects 431 locations which in total received more than 325 million visitors in 2023. 63 of those spots are officially designated as national parks, ranging in size from over 8.3 million acres (Alaska’s Wrangell-St Elias National Park and Preserve, park portion only) to just 90.9 acres (Missouri’s Gateway Arch National Park).
With the weather finally starting to cool down as Autumn hits, now is a great time to get outside and explore national parks and nature all across the country. To capture the spirit of the season, BetArizona.com ran a Survey Monkey questionnaire polling 1,081 Americans on their national park and outdoor preferences. We asked respondents what national park they most want to visit and how often they do outdoor activities such as hiking, fishing, etc.
This is what the survey revealed. While we typically stick with Arizona betting apps here, look for occasional research pieces such as this, too.
Rank | National Park | Total Percentage of Vote |
1 | Yellowstone (WY/ID/MT) | 20.17% |
2 | Grand Canyon (AZ) | 16.56% |
3 | Great Smoky Mountains (TN/NC) | 12.03% |
4 | Yosemite (CA) | 11.29% |
5 | Rocky Mountain (CO) | 6.38% |
6 | Zion (UT) | 5.55% |
7 | Joshua Tree (CA) | 5.09% |
8 | Denali (AK) | 4.53% |
9 | Olympic (WA) | 4.16% |
10 | Acadia (M) | 3.89% |
The poll results line up closely with park attendance statistics, as nine of the ten parks most frequently mentioned by respondents ranked among the ten most visited national parks in 2023. While the order of the two lists varies a bit, Grand Teton National Park is the only park in the top ten in attendance that did not appear on the survey list, with Denali National Park taking its place instead.
Denali ranked just 42nd in 2023 attendance, but considering its remote central Alaskan location and stunning mixture of forests, tundra, glaciers and snowcapped peaks, it is easy to understand why more people want to visit than can practically travel there. The park houses Denali (formerly Mount McKinley), the tallest mountain in North America, along with over 200 different animal species, including 38 mammals.
The nation’s most visited park, Great Smoky Mountains, finished third in the polling. Great Smoky Mountains National Park welcomed close to 13.3 million guests last year, almost three times more than the next most attended park (Grand Canyon at approximately 4.7 million). In fact, the park is so popular that it has led all national parks in attendance each year since 1944.
Yellowstone, the park survey respondents most wanted to visit, ranked fourth in 2023 attendance with just over 4.5 million visitors. That was an over 1.2 million person jump from 2022’s numbers, the largest increase among all national parks by over 50 percent and enough to move it up three spots in the annual attendance rankings. Famed for its geothermal activity, Yellowstone is the country's oldest national park, having been founded in 1872, 44 years before the creation of the National Park Service.
The rest of the parks on both lists mostly consist of other old stock parks that have become icons of the national park system. Designated in 1994, Joshua Tree National Park is the only park in the top ten created after the start of World War II (though it was first named a national monument in 1936), while everything else on the list except Great Smoky Mountains and Olympic was established before 1920.
The most popular parks are concentrated in the western half of the country, though California is the only state with multiple parks cited by respondents. The Golden State contains nine national parks, more than any other state, however Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Utah and Washington also house three or more parks each.
Just 12 of the 51 national parks in the lower 48 lie east of the Mississippi River, including four of the eight parks designated since 2000. Acadia, the only national park located in the northeast, gained federal protection 15 years before any other eastern park, earning that recognition in 1919. Although Acadia received the seventh most visitors in 2023, by finishing tenth in the poll it tied Yellowstone and Zion for the largest gap between its place on the attendance list and survey results among the nine parks that finished top ten in both.
Rank | Answer | Total Percentage of Vote |
1 | A few times a month | 21.74% |
T2 | A few times a week | 17.30% |
T2 | About once a week | 17.30% |
4 | Less than once a month | 15.45% |
5 | Every day | 11.47% |
6 | Never | 7.31% |
The other question on BetArizona’s survey uncovered a fascinating split in respondents’ relationships to the outdoors. While over 92% said they did some form of outdoor activity at least occasionally, only about 45% claimed to participate on a weekly basis or more.
These numbers stand in contrast to figures reported by the Outdoor Industry Association in their latest “Outdoor Participation Trends Report.” Per the 2024 report, 175.8 million Americans, accounting for 57.3% of the population age six or over, took part in outdoor activities last year. The report found the average outdoor participant made 62.5 outings in 2023, a steep drop from the 70.5 outings reported by the average participant in 2022.
According to the Outdoor Industry Association, 28.8% of the population partook in outdoor activities at least once a week last year, far below the rate BetArizona found. While the report indicates that the participation rate of the most dedicated outdoorsmen is falling, it also showed that casual participation in outdoor activities is on the rise.
Hiking holds the title of the nation’s most popular outdoor activity, with 20% of Americans reportedly going for a hike at least once in 2023 per the OIA’s data.
Also of interest: 15 Most Famous Celebrities From Arizona.
USA Today photo by Eve Chen.
Author
Josh Markowitz is a freelance writer for BetArizona.com. He is a lifelong sports fan with an emphasis on basketball, football, baseball and the scouting/evaluation process. A graduate of Elon University's School of Communications, Josh also has experience in television production.
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