MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS, WY — Yellowstone National Park recorded 4,762,988 recreation visits in 2025, according to new data released by the National Park Service, marking the second-highest visitation total in the park’s recorded history and a modest increase over 2024’s 4,744,353 visits.
The figures represent a continued upward trend for the iconic national park, which has now surpassed 4.7 million visits in back-to-back years for the first time on record.
The numbers are particularly notable given that 2025 saw the longest partial federal government shutdown in U.S. history, lasting 43 days. Despite the disruption, the National Park Service worked to keep parks open and accessible throughout the shutdown, allowing visitors to continue experiencing the country’s natural and historic landmarks without significant interruption.
Beyond the headline visitation figure, the NPS reported that visitors collectively spent 86,891,452 hours inside Yellowstone in 2025, along with 1,238,983 overnight stays, underscoring the park’s role not just as a day-trip destination but as a major overnight tourism draw in the Greater Yellowstone region.
Yellowstone’s 2025 total falls just short of the all-time record of 4,860,242 visits set in 2021, a year that saw a surge in outdoor recreation demand following pandemic-era restrictions. The park’s 2022 visitation dropped sharply to 3,290,242, largely due to severe flooding that closed portions of the park for extended periods. Since that low point, visitation has rebounded steadily each year.
