Yellowstone’s Visitor Numbers Show A Rising Trend In Tourism

The winter season at Yellowstone National Park is over, and crews are beginning to clear snow from roads and prepare for the summer visitor season. According to a video posted on the Park's Facebook page, this process will take nearly three months and can be tough on visitors.

With some roads open, some closed, and others only accessible by snowmobiles and snowcoaches, it can be tricky to navigate the park this time of year.

The only park road that remains open year-round is the road between the North and Northeast entrances. Most other roads are closed to all vehicles until mid-April.

As the park prepares for this year's tourists and visitors, last year's visitor numbers have been released, and they're pretty darn impressive.

Yellowstone had 4,762,988 recreation visits in 2025, which was good enough to claim the second-most visitors in one season in the park's history. The top spot belongs to 2021's 4,860,242, which was the first summer post covid.

2025 may have been on track to break the 2021 record, but a 43-day partial government shutdown may have hurt the numbers.

Visitation figures and trends help guide how the National Park Service manages parks to ensure the best possible experience for visitors. The Visitation Statistics Dashboard on NPS.gov provides recreation visit data for every park in the U.S. for 2025 and previous years - dating back to 1979 for some parks. Of the 433 parks in the National Park System, 406 reported visitation in 2025.

2025 Visitation Highlights

• 4,762,988 recreation visits
• 86,891,452 visitor hours spent in park
• 1,238,983 overnight stays

Given how the numbers have been increasing over the last 5 or 6 years, 2026 may end up being huge for the park. Are you planning a trip to Yellowstone National Park? Drop me an email and let me know. HERE