Camping statistics 2026

From np.guide

The 10 published np.guide field guides include 41 permit notes. Those notes cover entrance rules, campgrounds, and timed entry. They are not a count of permits issued. Sample: 10 park guides.

Nights in national parks, 2025

Parks recorded 13,016,577 overnight stays in 2025. One overnight stay is one person staying one night. Source: National Park Service, 13 March 2026.

IRMA splits that year this way. Source: IRMA Annual Visitation Summary 2025.

• NPS tent camping, 3,119,939
• NPS RV camping, 2,535,130
• Concessioner camping, 1,502,650
• Concessioner lodging, 3,129,209
• Backcountry, 1,604,578
• Miscellaneous (groups and boats), 1,100,514

The Park Service does not publish one campground total. Tent, RV, and concessioner camping add to 7,157,719. That sum is ours, not an NPS figure.

2024 overnight stays were 13,412,294. Source: NPS Statistical Abstract 2024.

Camping visits on federal land, fiscal 2024

These activity visits include developed camps, dispersed camps, backcountry, cabins, and RVs. They are not reservation counts. Source: Federal Interagency Council on Outdoor Recreation, FY 2024 report (June 2026).

• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 36,335,374 camping visits
• U.S. Forest Service, 17,116,909
• Bureau of Land Management, 15,079,353
• Bureau of Reclamation, 8,146,174
• National Park Service, 5,222,269

The NPS camping-visit number is not the same as the 13.0 million overnight stays. One is an activity estimate for fiscal 2024. The other is person-nights in calendar 2025.

The same report says agencies were still analyzing fiscal 2025 and still collecting fiscal 2026 when it was published in June 2026.

How many people camp

42.3 million Americans used a vehicle-accessible camp in 2025. That is up more than 5% from the year before, and up 6.2 million since 2020. Source: Outdoor Foundation / Outdoor Industry Association, 2026 Camping Report.

Recreation.gov

Recreation.gov lists more than 103,000 reservable sites and more than 21 million user accounts. Source: Recreation.gov about page.

Those are inventory and account counts, not permits issued in 2026.

A Congressional Research Service brief put total Recreation.gov reservations at about 9 million in fiscal 2023. That includes all reservation types, not camping only. Source: CRS IF12778.

Timed entry is not a camping permit

Some parks use a vehicle reservation to enter a road or area. That is not a campground permit. There is no official national count of timed-entry reservations.

Yosemite said it will not use a timed reservation system in 2026. You still need a park entrance pass. Source: Yosemite National Park, entrance reservations.