YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK — Preliminary park visitation statistics have been released for 2025 from Yellowstone National Park (YNP) and Grand Teton National Park (GTNP), and all signs point to a very busy year.

A sign seen in the entrance station at Grand Teton National Park during the federal government shutdown in October 2025. Photo: Nick Sulzer // Buckrail

The initial numbers are not yet finalized and are subject to change. GTNP’s visitation statistics are currently only recorded through November 2025. The visitation numbers come from the National Park Service’s Integrated Resource Management Applications Portal. Finalized data is expected to be released by early spring. Though GTNP entrance stations were not staffed during the federal government shutdown in October and November, it appears that visitation statistics during those months are relatively normal when compared to other years.

In YNP, the numbers show that the park hosted 4,763,164 recreation visits from January through December of 2025. If this number does not change dramatically once finalized, it will be the second-most visits seen in a year at YNP, and it will eke out a less than 1% increase in visitation over last year’s 4,744,353 visits. The annual total from 2025 is down just 2% from the park’s record-setting 2021 season, when the park welcomed 4,860,242 visitors.

The 2025 visitation statistics for GTNP will likely change more than those from YNP, due to the fact that the December numbers have not yet been reported even preliminarily. Currently, the 11-month total is estimated at 3,734,529, which is nearly 3% more than the 12-month total in 2024. With December visitation typically ranging from 40,000 to 53,000 visits, it is unlikely that 2025’s total will beat the park’s annual record of 3,885,230 recreation visits in 2021. However, if the total remains the same or increases at all with the addition of December visits, it will place the year as the second-busiest on record for GTNP.

Aside from 2021, last year was the only other year that saw more than 2,000,000 visitors by the end of July, GTNP told Buckrail. The park estimates that there has been a 25% increase in trail use since 2015, when looking at nine popular trailheads. Finalized data is expected by April.

Monica is a Staff Reporter who studied journalism at Syracuse University and has been in the valley since 2015. She loves writing about the local food and bev scene, especially craft beer. When she’s not on the clock, you can find her paddle boarding, sewing, or whipping up a new recipe at home.