How do national parks affect the economy?
National park visitor spending contributes to local GDP, jobs, and wages.
In 2024, the 332 million visitors to national parks spent an estimated $29.0 billion dollars. Visitors spent this money in what the National Park Service (NPS) calls a “local gateway region,” or local economies near a national park. A local gateway region includes nearby towns and counties where park visitors usually stop to shop or stay overnight. For most parks, it’s defined as all counties within 60 miles of the park’s boundary. .
Adjusted for inflation, 2024 visitor spending was the highest in more than a decade. The second-highest was 2023 at $27.2 billion and third-highest was 2019 at $25.7 billion. But right after that came 2020. The biggest single-year spending drop was from 2019 to 2020 — when the COVID-19 pandemic restricted visits to national parks and related spending had its biggest single year drop, down 31.8% to $17.5 billion.
National park visitor spending reached a record high in 2024.
Inflation-adjusted national park visitor spending by year, all parks, 2012–2024
Which parks bring in the most visitor revenue?
Of the top 10 national park spots for spending in 2024, visitors spent the most at Great Smoky Mountains National Park: $2.0 billion. It was the only national park where visitors spent more than $2 billion.
Two other parks generated over $1 billion: Golden Gate Bridge Recreation Area ($1.7 billion) and Blue Ridge Parkway ($1.5 billion).
Of the remaining top 10, visitor spending ranged between $612.0 million and $905.3 million.
In 2024, park visitor spending was highest at Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Top 10 national parks, all park types, by total visitor spending
How do national parks impact the economy?
NPS tracks visitor spending using eight categories
- Camping fees in national and non-national parks
- Gas
- Groceries
- Lodging at hotels, motels, and other specialty lodging
- Recreation including equipment rental, tourist activities, and tour/guide fees (this does not include NPS entrance fees)
- Restaurants
- Retail shopping, including souvenirs
- Local transportation expenses
In 2024, about 38.3% of park visitor spending was for lodging, totaling $11.0 billion. People spent more on lodging than anything else.
Visitors spent the second most on restaurants, which accounted for 19.7% of visitor spending.
Spending on gas, recreation, transportation and retail were between $2.2 billion and $2.6 billion each. The lowest spending was on groceries ($1.9 billion) and camping ($610 million).
Lodging was the biggest source of visitor spending, generating $11.1 billion in 2024.
Top 10 national parks, all park types, by total visitor spending
Based on visitor spending, the NPS can calculate four economic effects:
- Economic output: The total value of goods and services produced thanks to visitor spending. It includes both business-to-business sales and sales directly to consumers.
- Value added to GDP: The boost that visitor spending contributes to a region’s GDP. The value added is the difference between the amount an industry sells a product to the consumer and how much it costs to make it. Value added to GDP is a subset of economic output.
- Jobs: Full and part-time jobs supported by visitor spending.
- Labor income: Employee and sole proprietor wages, salaries, and payroll benefits that are supported by visitor spending.
In 2024, economic output amounted to $56.3 billion. These economic effects can be direct or secondary.
A direct effect is a result of visitor spending in a gateway economy. For example, a direct effect is all the value that comes from a family dining out at a restaurant or buying a souvenir from a local retailer, including the business that purchases the supplies. In 2024, about 43.7% (or $24.6 billion) economic output was direct.
A secondary effect is when employees of businesses in gateway economies spend their income locally. In 2024, over half of economic output was secondary (56.5%, or around $31.8 billion). In other words, visitor spending boosted local economic activity as employees spend their wages nearby.
Value added to GDP, while a slightly different concept, followed a similar trend: about 46.6% (or $15.7 billion) value added to local GDPs was direct and 53.4% (or $18.0 billion) was secondary.
Visitors contributed $33.7B in GDP and generated $56.3B in goods and services.
Economic contributions to the national economy from NPS visitor spending, 2024
While value added only considers the visitor transaction to purchase a good or service, economic output includes that purchase, as well as transactions prior to that, from business to business, to support the customer transaction.
For example, if a restaurant purchases a case of eggs to make omelets and a customer buys an omelet, economic output considers both transactions. Value added strictly accounts for the customer’s purchase.
How do national parks support employment?
In 2024, there were 340,100 jobs in local economies tied to supporting national park visitors, generating $18.8 billion in wages and salaries.
Park visitors supported the most jobs in California (35,683). North Carolina was second at 25,824 jobs.
Visitor spending supported 340K jobs and $18.8 billion in wages in 2024.
Economic contributions to the national economy from NPS visitor spending
Nearly 60% of these jobs directly supported park visitors, while the remaining 40% were secondary effect jobs created by the local economy. In this context, a secondary effect job results from people living and working in a NPS economy. For example, a local tour guide (a direct job) spends money at a nearby pub, helping sustain a waitstaff position (a secondary effect job).
The highest share of jobs supporting park visitors were in lodging (22.0%) and restaurants (15.7%).
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