Social Science

Public Use Statistics Office

A hybrid bus in Yosemite National Park.

The Public Use Statistics Office, based in Denver, Colorado, coordinates visitor-counting protocols Systemwide and provides visitation statistics and forecasts for areas administered by the NPS.

For more information, be sure to visit the Public Use Statistics Office Web site.

NPS Recreational Visit Statistics
Time Frame	Visits in Millions
2012 YTD Visitation in Millions as of May	91
2011 YTD Visitation in Millions as of May	88
2011 Total Visitation in Millions	279

Percentage increase between current year-to-date and previous year-to-date: 3.02%

National Economic Significance of NPS Visitor Spending
Time Frame	Dollars in Millions
2012 YTD Total Sales in Millions of Dollars as of May	9656
2011 YTD Total Sales in Millions of Dollars as of May	9373
2011 Total Sales in Millions of Dollars	29685

Percentage increase between current year-to-date and previous year-to-date: 3.02%

National economic significance reflects the level of economic activity throughout the nation that is generated by visitors to all National Park System units. The sales generated by NPS visitor spending further reverberates throughout the national economy in a domino effect of spending by supporting businesses and households. The summary statistics presented above are based on the average of total sales per recreation visit for 2009. Please see Economic Benefits to Local Communities from National Park Visitation and Payroll, 2009 (PDF - 647KB) for details.

These summary statistics are continuously updated as parks submit their visitation data to the Public Use Statistics Office website. Therefore, year-to-date summations may change throughout each month.