National Park Service visits in Idaho
260,418
Recreation visits to Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, 2025
−17.1% since 2024 (314,118); +5.5% since 2015 (246,826)
Source: National Park Service, NPS Visitor Use Statistics. Data period 2025. Published .
Recreation visits counted by the National Park Service in the calendar year.
Change and comparison
From 1979 (220,698) to 2025 (260,418), the change was +18.0%.
Over the most recent 5 years, 2020 (250,872) to 2025 (260,418), the change was +3.8%.
The series high is 314,118 in 2024 and the low is 162,454 in 1980.
The largest category is Nez Perce National Historical Park at 343,910; next is Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve at 260,418.
Historical data
Source: National Park Service, NPS Visitor Use Statistics. Published .
Data table (47 rows)
| Period | Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve (count) |
|---|---|
| 1979 | 220,698 |
| 1980 | 162,454 |
| 1981 | 236,525 |
| 1982 | 294,387 |
| 1983 | 273,693 |
| 1984 | 220,801 |
| 1985 | 172,503 |
| 1986 | 178,332 |
| 1987 | 202,800 |
| 1988 | 217,022 |
| 1989 | 189,317 |
| 1990 | 207,766 |
| 1991 | 217,879 |
| 1992 | 244,806 |
| 1993 | 238,508 |
| 1994 | 227,918 |
| 1995 | 236,008 |
| 1996 | 217,586 |
| 1997 | 218,036 |
| 1998 | 193,304 |
| 1999 | 215,567 |
| 2000 | 211,642 |
| 2001 | 185,799 |
| 2002 | 183,573 |
| 2003 | 178,824 |
| 2004 | 183,111 |
| 2005 | 203,332 |
| 2006 | 176,998 |
| 2007 | 221,672 |
| 2008 | 227,179 |
| 2009 | 194,046 |
| 2010 | 215,698 |
| 2011 | 198,545 |
| 2012 | 197,529 |
| 2013 | 200,525 |
| 2014 | 214,993 |
| 2015 | 246,826 |
| 2016 | 255,436 |
| 2017 | 285,227 |
| 2018 | 263,506 |
| 2019 | 272,224 |
| 2020 | 250,872 |
| 2021 | 270,829 |
| 2022 | 237,774 |
| 2023 | 257,598 |
| 2024 | 314,118 |
| 2025 | 260,418 |
Visits by park unit
Count
Source: National Park Service, NPS Visitor Use Statistics. Data period 2025. Published .
Data table (4 rows)
| Park unit | 2025 (count) |
|---|---|
| Nez Perce National Historical Park | 343,910 |
| City of Rocks National Reserve | 90,898 |
| Minidoka National Historic Site | 43,539 |
| Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument | 36,667 |
Visits by park unit over time
Source: National Park Service, NPS Visitor Use Statistics. Published .
Land the Park Service holds, by unit
This breakdown is from National Park Service, on a different basis than the headline figure above. Land the National Park Service holds by fee title or a lesser interest, by park unit.
Acres
Source: National Park Service, National Park Service Land Resources Division Acreage Report. Data period June 30, 2026. Published .
Data table (3 rows)
| Unit | June 30, 2026 (acres) |
|---|---|
| Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve | 464,170.56 |
| City of Rocks National Reserve | 10,618.01 |
| Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument | 4,334.65 |
- Covers the three National Park Service units the report places entirely within Idaho: City of Rocks National Reserve, Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, and Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument. Minidoka National Historic Site, Nez Perce National Historical Park and Yellowstone National Park also hold Idaho land, but the report gives each one combined figure across every state it spans and attributes no share to Idaho.
- Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve is reported as two units, the original monument and the 2000 preserve expansion; this dataset sums them under the park's current combined name.
- Craters of the Moon is administered jointly by the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management. The federal acreage here is limited to what the report itself labels as the Park Service's own fee and less-than-fee acreage; the report separately lists 273,488 acres of "other federal" fee land inside the preserve's boundary, which this dataset excludes because the report does not name the agency that holds it.
Total area inside each unit's boundary
This breakdown is from National Park Service, on a different basis than the headline figure above. Total authorized area of the park unit, including land the Park Service does not itself hold.
Acres
Source: National Park Service, National Park Service Land Resources Division Acreage Report. Data period June 30, 2026. Published .
Data table (3 rows)
| Total area inside each unit's boundary | June 30, 2026 (acres) |
|---|---|
| Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve | 752,377.33 |
| City of Rocks National Reserve | 14,512.27 |
| Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument | 4,351.15 |
- Gross acres is the unit's total authorized area, including land other than the Park Service's own holdings, such as the other-federal acreage inside Craters of the Moon National Preserve's boundary and any state, local or private inholdings; it is larger than the federal acres figure for that reason.
Source
- Organization
- National Park Service
- Dataset
- NPS Visitor Use Statistics
- Geography
- Idaho park units
- Time coverage
- 1979-2025, by unit's own start of record
- Update frequency
- Monthly, summed here to annual
- Published
- Original file
- https://irmaservices.nps.gov/v3/rest/stats/visitation
- Methodology
- https://www.nps.gov/subjects/socialscience/visitor-use-statistics.htm
- License
- Public domain. U.S. federal government work.
- Our copy
- NPS Visitor Use Statistics
Caveats
- A year is counted only when the park reported every one of its twelve months; a year still in progress is left out rather than partially added up.
- Yellowstone National Park has a strip of land in Idaho and is not included: the park is entered overwhelmingly through its Wyoming and Montana gates. The National Historic Trails that cross Idaho (California, Oregon, Lewis and Clark, Nez Perce) have no visitation figures of this kind published for them.
- Nez Perce National Historical Park is 38 sites across Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington administered as one park, so its visitation total covers the whole park, not only its Idaho sites.
- City of Rocks National Reserve is managed cooperatively by the National Park Service and the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation.
Cite
Cite this page as Understand Idaho, “National Park Service visits in Idaho”, https://understandidaho.com/land/national-park-service/, retrieved on the date you read it, and the publisher named above for the figures themselves. The dataset behind it is described in the data catalog.
This page was last updated .