Yellowstone Visitor Boom Continues With Historic May

We haven't officially hit summer yet, and people are already getting out and exploring in great numbers. Even with winter weather still possible and road closures not out of the question, Yellowstone National Park is seeing a surge of visitors.

In fact, YNP is seeing record numbers of visitors.

"Yellowstone National Park hosted 570,272 recreation visits in May 2026, up 1% from May 2025 (566,363 recreation visits)." - Yellowstone National Park's Instagram page.

The numbers are up 20% from 2021, which surprises me, considering 2021 was the year after COVID. People were chomping at the bit to get out of the house, and yet, 2026 still recorded higher numbers.

Old Faithful with a bird photobombing. Credit: Ace Sauerwein

Thanks to a booming May, 2026 is seeing its best numbers through the first five months of the year as well.

2026 – 773,653
2025 – 762,672
2024 – 719,127
2023 – 644,979
2022 – 733,471 (The park was closed June 13 through June 21 due to the historic flood event. Three entrances opened on June 22.)
2021 – 649,153

- Numbers provided by the National Park Service

That is a 19% jump from 2021 to 2026.

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Visitation numbers are expected to climb throughout the summer. Plan if you have a trip to YNP on the books, because it can get really, really busy at times, especially with the 4th of July and America 250 coming up in July.

Check out Yellowstone's tips below.