According to the National Park Service, only one national park in Colorado lands among the 15 most-visited national parks in the country – and you can probably guess which one it is.

With 4,300,424 visits in 2022, Rocky Mountain National Park was the 4th most-visited national park in the United States, attracting roughly 4.85 percent of total national park across 63 spots nationwide. This compares to a 5th-place rank for Rocky Mountain National Park in 2021, a 4th-place rank in 2020, and a 3rd-place rank in 2019 and 2018.

While Rocky Mountain visitation numbers were within a few hundred thousand visits of Grand Canyon National Park and Zion National Park, 2nd and 3rd most-visited, respectively, each with about 4.7 million visits, there’s no contest when comparing Rocky Mountain to the frontrunner national park – Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park attracted nearly 13 million visitors in 2022 as a premiere natural destination for those in the East, South, and Midwest.

Elsewhere in Colorado, Mesa Verde National Park ranked 40th in visitation of 63 national parks, with 499,790 visits in 2022. Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve wasn’t far behind, ranking in 41st place with 493,428 visits. Meanwhile, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park ranked 48th, with 297,257 visits last year.

The least visited national park in the continental US was Isle Royale in Michigan, which attracted 25,454 visitors in 2022. Meanwhile, the National Park of American Samoa attracted just 1,887 recreational visits.

Find the full breakdown here.

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