Bryce Canyon National Park Sees Nearly 2 Million Visits in 2025 with Enhanced Visitor Counting Procedures

Date:
March 17, 2026

BRYCE, UT- Bryce Canyon National Park today announced it welcomed 1,967,367 recreation visits in 2025, reflecting the implementation of a more precise and refined visitor counting method that will significantly enhance future planning and park management. Despite a 43-day partial government shutdown - the longest ever - the National Park Service worked to keep parks open and accessible whenever possible so visitors could continue to experience the nation's natural and historic treasures.

In 2024, Bryce Canyon reviewed its visitor use counting procedures and identified an opportunity to improve accuracy. Previously, visitation figures were based on total boardings of park shuttle buses. Since some visitors board shuttles multiple times during their visit, this approach overestimated visitation. Beginning with 2025 data, the park counted only unique passengers entering via shuttle, providing a clearer and more accurate picture of visitor numbers.

As a result of this improved accuracy, the official 2025 visitation number shows an adjustment from the previous count of 2,498,075 visits in 2024. However, when calculated using the former counting method based on total shuttle boardings, 2025 visitation would have been reported as 2,437,461-reflecting just a modest 2.4% change from the prior year.

2025 Visitation Highlights

• 1,967,367 recreation visits
• 11,606,250 visitor hours spent in the park
• 153,741 overnight stays

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.

With at least one in every state, national parks throughout the country provide a wide range of opportunities for recreation and inspiration for visitors of all ages.

For an in-depth look at 2025 visitation, including individual park figures, please visit the NPS Social Science web site.