YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK — If September ever qualified as shoulder season, those days are gone.
Yellowstone National Park (YNP) has released its September visitation report, tallying 868,450 recreation visits. That figure represents an increase of 3% from September 2025 (839,579 recreation visits). September 2021 was the park’s busiest on record with 882,078 recreation visits; that year saw more than 4.8 million visits total, the busiest year at the park since record-keeping began in 1904.
This September even outpaced August, during which the park hosted 856,467 recreation visits.
So far this year, visitation is down 1% compared to last year; 2026 has seen 4,360,300 visits, while this time frame in 2025 notched 4,387,546 visits. This year is trailing the record-breaking 2021 season (4,472,687 visits through September) by 3%.
See below for year-to-date recreation visit numbers over the last several years (through September):
- 2026 – 4,360,300
- 2025 – 4,387,546
- 2024 – 4,346,785
- 2023 – 4,147,382
- 2022 – 3,005,194 (The park was closed for part of June that year due to the historic flood)
- 2021 – 4,472,687
Yellowstone will continue to host visitors through the end of October before the majority of park roads close to vehicles Nov. 1. The only road open year-round connects the North Entrance in Gardiner, Montana, to the Northeast Entrance in Cooke City, Montana.
