Glacier Slips While Yellowstone Stays Steady in 2025 Park Rankings

2025 turned out to be a pretty fascinating year for national parks across the U.S.—especially here in Montana. 

With the Glacier National Park major construction projects, it’s not too surprising that visitation took a bit of a hit compared to previous years. And now that the National Park Service has released the official numbers, we’re getting a clearer picture of how things shook out. 

Why Glacier National Park Visitation Dropped in 2025

No shock at the top: Great Smoky Mountains National Park once again claimed the #1 spot—and by a landslide. The park drew a little over twice as many visitors as Zion National Park, which ranked #2. 

READ MORE: Here’s How to Use Glacier Park Shuttles This Year

From there, Montana held its ground in a big way. Yellowstone National Park landed at #3 with over 4.7 million visitors, continuing its streak as one of the most popular destinations in the country, and it had about the same number of visitors as in 2024.  

Yellowstone Continues to Dominate Visitor Rankings

Rounding out the top 10 were some of the usual heavy hitters: 

• Grand Canyon National Park 
• Yosemite National Park
• Rocky Mountain National Park
• Acadia National Park
• Grand Teton National Park
• Olympic National Park 

And then there’s Glacier. 

Despite some challenges, Glacier still managed to sneak into the top 10, coming in just over 3.1 million visitors. But when you compare that to Yellowstone, that’s a difference of about 1.6 million fewer people—pretty significant, and honestly one of the more surprising takeaways from the 2025 numbers. It also looks like Glacier had about 100,000 fewer visitors last year than in 2024. 

READ MORE: Glacier National Park’s Movie About 2 Grizzly Bear Attacks Debuts

Looking ahead to 2026, though, things could shift again. Glacier is changing the vehicle reservation system and wrapping up some construction, which could open the door to a big rebound in visitation. If that happens, don’t be surprised to see it climb back up the rankings. 

What to Expect for 2026 Visitation Trends

Bottom line: both of Montana’s national park giants are still drawing massive crowds—but 2025 showed just how much logistics and access can impact where people decide to go.