An Arizona national park had the third most visitors in 2024 of all the parks in the United States. Here's how many visited and why it's so popular.

According to data published on the National Park Service website, there were 6.36 million more visits in 2024 than there were in 2023, with 28 parks setting new visitation records. Now, the National Park Service is directing employees not to share those numbers with the public unless they’re asked, The New York Times reports.

National parks saw a record-breaking 331.8 million visitors in the last year, a 2% increase from the previous year. Great Smoky Mountains National Park remains the most visited national park, while Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve had the fewest visitors.

Boy did Americans and other visitors make good use of US National Park Service sites in 2024 – enough to set a record.

Record numbers of visitors came to national parks last year, and many of those sites were in the Mountain West. But staffing cuts and potential reductions have some advocates worried for the future.

In light of our current administration's desire to downsize the federal government, the National Parks Service was hit with around 1,000 layoffs in February – that means the crucial workers that maintain trails and camping grounds,