STATISTICS / 2026
Hiking statistics 2026
Hiker counts come from the Outdoor Foundation. Trail visits on federal land come from the 2024 interagency report. They measure different things.
Updated .
From np.guide
The 10 published np.guide field guides list 50 short hikes. Sample: 10 park guides.
How many people hike
63.4 million Americans ages 6 and older hiked in 2024. That is 20.5% of that age group. Source: Outdoor Foundation / Outdoor Industry Association, 2026 Hiking Report.
16.7 million of them were core hikers, meaning 13 or more hikes in the year. Source: same report.
183.2 million Americans did some outdoor recreation in 2025, 59% of people ages 6 and older. That is not a hiking-only number. Source: Outdoor Foundation, 2026 Participation Trends Report.
A 2025 hiking-only participant count was not in the public summary used here.
Hiking visits on federal land, fiscal 2024
These counts are visits, not unique people. Hiking here includes walking and running. Backpacking is counted as camping. Source: Federal Interagency Council on Outdoor Recreation, FY 2024 report (June 2026).
- National Park Service, 141,239,590 hiking, walking, or running visits
- U.S. Forest Service, 79,974,561
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 31,741,276
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 24,927,864
- Bureau of Land Management, 19,187,443
Do not add those rows into one U.S. hiking total. The agencies do not share one counting method.
Backcountry nights in national parks
National parks recorded 1,604,578 backcountry overnight stays in calendar 2025. That is person-nights in undeveloped sites, not day hikes. Source: IRMA Annual Visitation Summary 2025.
The 2024 backcountry total was 1,756,372. Source: NPS Statistical Abstract 2024.