National Park Service data shows dramatic long-term growth across the state’s seven federally managed properties, with combined annual visits nearly doubling since the 1980s.
Arkansas’s seven National Park Service properties attracted more than 4.2 million recreation visits in 2025, capping a decade of sustained growth that has transformed the state into one of the South’s most visited outdoor destinations, according to data from the NPS Visitor Use Statistics Dashboard.
The figures show that combined visitation across all Arkansas NPS units reached 4,210,100 in 2025, down modestly from a peak of 4,471,452 in 2024 and a near-peak of 4,447,751 in 2023. The broader trend, however, tells a story of remarkable expansion. Arkansas NPS visits stood at roughly 2 million annually in the early 1980s, meaning total statewide visitation has more than doubled over the past four decades.
Hot Springs National Park Dominates
Hot Springs National Park is the clear leader among Arkansas NPS properties, recording 2,494,611 visits in 2025. The park, which surrounds the historic bathhouse district in the Ouachita Mountains, drew 2,646,133 visitors in 2022, its highest recorded year in the available dataset, before settling back to the 2.4 million to 2.5 million range. Since 2013, when it recorded 1,325,719 visits, Hot Springs NP has grown its annual visitation by nearly 88 percent.
The park’s cumulative total since 2013 stands at 68,392,408 recreation visits, by far the largest of any Arkansas NPS unit and a reflection of its accessibility from Little Rock, Dallas and Memphis.
Buffalo National River Holds Strong
Buffalo National River, the nation’s first national river designated by Congress, recorded 1,393,246 visits in 2025 after reaching a high of 1,685,128 in 2021. The park’s popularity surged during the COVID-19 pandemic years, as visitors sought outdoor recreation within driving distance. Its 2021 figure represented more than a 22 percent increase over its 2020 total of 1,478,846.
Since 2013, Buffalo NR has accumulated 49,807,296 total recreation visits, making it the second most-visited NPS property in Arkansas. The park stretches 135 miles through the Ozark Mountains and offers some of the most accessible float trips in the central United States.
Smaller Parks Show Growth Too
Pea Ridge National Military Park, which commemorates the March 1862 Civil War battle in northwest Arkansas, recorded 131,726 visits in 2025, up from 80,455 in 2020 and representing growth of more than 63 percent over five years. Its 2025 total was its highest in the dataset.
Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, which marks the 1957 desegregation crisis, drew 49,069 visits in 2025 after peaking at 170,413 in 2017. The site saw a significant dip during the pandemic and has not fully recovered to its pre-pandemic levels.
Fort Smith National Historic Site, which interprets the frontier federal court of Judge Isaac Parker along the Arkansas-Oklahoma border, logged 106,953 visits in 2025. The site recorded 163,636 visits in 2015, and visitation has trended lower since that period.
Smallest Sites
Arkansas Post National Memorial, the site of the first European settlement in the lower Mississippi Valley, drew 27,674 visits in 2025. Its total since 2013 stands at 2,115,702 recreation visits. President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home National Historic Site in Hope recorded 6,821 visits in 2025, the smallest of any Arkansas NPS property, with a cumulative total of 125,815 since 2013.
National Context
The Arkansas figures align with broader national trends. The National Park Service reported a record 331.9 million recreation visits nationwide in calendar year 2024, an increase of about 2 percent from 2023 and surpassing the previous record set in 2016. Nationally, 28 parks set a record for annual recreation visits in 2024, and visitors are increasingly spreading their visits across more months of the year.
The NPS notes that 404 of the 433 National Park System units currently report visitor use, and that updating visitor counting methods can require significant time and financial resources.
Planning a Visit
Arkansas’s national parks and historic sites are open and welcoming visitors right now. Whether you’re drawn to thermal waters, wild rivers, Civil War battlefields or the stories that shaped American history, there’s something worth the drive.
Soak in the history and hot springs at Hot Springs National Park, open year-round and anchored by the stunning Bathhouse Row district in the Ouachita Mountains. Paddle one of the country’s most celebrated waterways at Buffalo National River, where the float season peaks April through June but the scenery rewards a visit in any season. Walk the ground where a pivotal Civil War battle turned the tide in the Trans-Mississippi Theater at Pea Ridge National Military Park, conveniently located near Rogers and Bentonville for a natural pairing with a stop at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.
Explore the birthplace of European settlement in the lower Mississippi Valley at Arkansas Post National Memorial, or step into the history of the American frontier at Fort Smith National Historic Site. Reflect on a defining chapter of the civil rights movement at Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, and pay tribute to a 42nd president at President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home National Historic Site in Hope.
The NPS Visitor Use Statistics Dashboard tracks 11 official visitor use statistics monthly and annually for each park unit, with data available back to 1979. The data are published during the first quarter of the following calendar year and are available to the public at no cost through the NPS Integrated Resource Management Applications portal.
This article was originally published on ArkansasOutside.com, your trusted source for outdoor news and updates in The Natural State. Unless otherwise credited, all photos included in this piece are the property of Arkansas Outside, LLC. We take pride in sharing the beauty and adventures of Arkansas through our lens—thank you for supporting our work!
