YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. — Compared to 2021, Yellowstone National Park saw a 45% dip in visitation during the month of July, according to statistics released by the park today.
The pattern in visitation decreases can be largely attributed to historic flooding that occurred in mid-June.
On June 22, the East, South and West entrances to the park reopened on a limited entry basis. Portions of the park remained closed through the remainder of June, including the North and Northeast entrances.
On July 2, entry restrictions on the East, South and West entrances were removed. The North (Gardiner, Montana) and Northeast (Cooke City/Silver Gate, Montana) entrances remain closed to visitor vehicles.
According to park statistics, Yellowstone recorded 596,562 recreational visits in July 2022 compared to last year’s 1,080,767 recreation visits, which was the most-visited July on record.
So far in 2022, the park has hosted 1,864,771 recreation visits, down 30% from 2021.
More data on park visitation, including how the park calculates these numbers, is available on the NPS Stats website.
The list below shows the year-to-date trend for recreation visits over the last several years (through July):
- 2022 – 1,864,771 (The park was closed June 13 through June 21. Three entrances opened June 22)
- 2021–2,668,765
- 2020 –1,674,699 (The park was closed May 1 through May 18. Two entrances were open May 18 through May 31)
- 2019 – 2,294,691
- 2018 – 2,322,271
- 2017 – 2,316,541
