Ever since the creation of the Hot Springs Reservation in 1832, the oldest national reservation in the United States and now Hot Springs National Park, the American government has created a wealth of parks. Yosemite, for example, was given to the state of California by Abraham Lincoln in 1864 and managed as a state park until 1890. Language used in the Yosemite State Park act was used to create Yellowstone National Park in 1872, signed into law by Ulysses S. Grant.
Since the establishment of the world’s very first national park—Yellowstone—the U.S. Congress has created dozens more national parks. Some, like Mackinac National Park and Sullys Hill National Park, either became state parks or were redesignated. Most, however, survived and are now part of the extensive U.S. national park system.
So, how many national parks are there exactly right now? The answer to that question tends to change each year, as U.S. Presidents create national monuments and Congress designates new National Park Service units and “proper” national parks.
How Many National Parks Are There?
Currently, there are a total of 423 units in America’s vast national park system. Together, they cover more than 85 million acres. You’ll find at least one NPS unit in each of the 50 states, from the Alaskan tundra to the Florida Keys, as well as in Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
There are nineteen different naming designations in the national park system, all of which are federally managed parks. Within the NPS system, there are 63 “actual” national parks.
Those are the units with the “National Park” designation in their name; they are the star attractions in the system. The last national park to be added to the list is New River Gorge National Park in West Virginia, which was redesignated in early 2021.
Full List of All 63 National Parks
- Acadia National Park, Maine
- Arches National Park, Utah
- Badlands National Park, South Dakota
- Big Bend National Park, Texas
- Biscayne National Park, Florida
- Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Colorado
- Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah
- Canyonlands National Park, Utah
- Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
- Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico
- Channel Islands National Park, California
- Congaree National Park, South Carolina
- Crater Lake National Park, Oregon
- Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Ohio
- Death Valley National Park, California and Nevada
- Denali National Park, Alaska
- Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida
- Everglades National Park, Florida
- Gates of the Arctic National Park, Alaska
- Gateway Arch National Park, Missouri and Illinois
- Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska
- Glacier National Park, Montana
- Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
- Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
- Great Basin National Park, Nevada
- Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado
- Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina and Tennessee
- Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas
- Haleakalā National Park, Hawaii
- Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii
- Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas
- Indiana Dunes National Park, Indiana
- Isle Royale National Park, Michigan
- Joshua Tree National Park, California
- Katmai National Park, Alaska
- Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska
- Kings Canyon National Park, California
- Kobuk Valley National Park, Alaska
- Lake Clark National Park, Alaska
- Lassen Volcanic National Park, California
- Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky
- Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado
- Mount Rainier National Park, Washington
- National Park of American Samoa, American Samoa
- New River Gorge National Park, West Virginia
- North Cascades National Park, Washington
- Olympic National Park, Washington
- Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona
- Pinnacles National Park, California
- Redwood National Park, California
- Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
- Saguaro National Park, Arizona
- Sequoia National Park, California
- Shenandoah National Park, Virginia
- Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota
- Virgin Islands National Park, Virgin Islands
- Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota
- White Sands National Park, New Mexico
- Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota
- Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska
- Yellowstone National Park, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming
- Yosemite National Park, California
- Zion National Park, Utah
Other National Park Service Designations & Units
In addition to the 63 national parks in the United States, there are hundreds of other sites and units. They are divided into many different designations, which you can see below.
- National Battlefields (11)
- National Battlefield Parks (4)
- National Battlefield Sites (1)
- National Military Parks (9)
- National Historical Parks (61)
- National Historic Sites (74)
- International Historic Sites (1)
- National Lakeshores (3)
- National Seashores (10)
- National Memorials (31)
- National Monuments (85)
- National Parkways (4)
- National Preserves (19)
- National Reserves (2)
- National Recreation Areas (18)
- National Rivers (4)
- National Wild and Scenic Rivers and Riverways (10)
- National Scenic Trails (3)
- Other Designations (11)
You can find a complete and detailed overview of all National Park Service units on this NPS page.