Despite morale-sapping staff layoffs, bizarre executive orders, and a 43-day federal government shutdown last fall, the grandeur and serenity of California's national parks remain irresistible to outdoor lovers looking to relax.
The Golden State's nine national parks, including Yosemite, Death Valley and Joshua Tree, attracted nearly 12 million recreational visits in 2025, according to statistics of the National Park Service.
That's more than 800,000 more visits than in 2024 and more than 300,000 more than the previous record set in 2019, according to the data, which dates back to 1979.
Nationally, visits were high at 323 million, but a couple of percentage points less than the record set in 2024, according to a park service press release.
“America's national parks continue to be places where people come to experience our country's history, landscapes, and shared heritage,” said Jessica Bowron, acting director of the NPS.
“We are committed to keeping the parks open, accessible and well-managed so that visitors can safely enjoy these extraordinary places today and for generations to come,” Bowron added.
President Trump's critics disagree.
Since Trump took office in January 2025, his administration has cut the NPS workforce by nearly a quarter, buying or laying off hundreds of rangers, maintenance workers, scientists and administrative staff across the country.
And last year, as part of his war on “woke,” Trump ordered the park service to remove all signs and displays of language that he deemed negative, unpatriotic or that smacked of “inappropriate partisan ideology.”
He also ordered administrators to remove any content that “inappropriately disparages Americans” living or dead, and replace it with language celebrating the nation's greatness.
That gets complicated in places like Manzanar National Historic Site in California's eastern high desert, one of 10 camps where the U.S. government imprisoned more than 120,000 Japanese American civilians during World War II.
It's also hard to dance around disparaging details at Fort Sumter National Monument, where Confederates fired the first shots of the Civil War; the Ford Theater National Historic Site in Washington, DC, where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated; and the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park, which commemorates the assassination of the country's best-known civil rights leader.
“This administration is actively erasing the history, science and culture that protects our national parks,” said Emily Douce, assistant vice president of government affairs for the nonprofit. National Parks Conservation Association.
Douce argued that morale among staff at the parks — a series of 63 federally protected natural wonders often described as “America's best idea” — has never been lower.
But the fact that employees still showed up, even without pay during the federal government shutdown last year, demonstrates their commitment to keeping beloved parks thriving.
“The enduring popularity of America's national parks is not surprising,” Douce added. “What is shocking is this administration's relentless attacks on these places and their caretakers, which threaten their future.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The National Park Service is often among the most admired branches of the large and expanding federal government. Even Americans who have never watched a minute of C-SPAN, or gotten a little lost in the alphabet soup of other agencies, will probably never forget being in Yosemite Valley and admiring a towering waterfall.
According to the data, there were 4.3 million visits to Yosemite in 2025, 2.9 million to Joshua Tree and 1.3 million to Death Valley.
The 323 million visits to US national parks in 2025 are more than double the attendance (135 million) at professional football, baseball, basketball and hockey games combined.
Of course, it is much cheaper to enter a park. US residents pay between $20 and $35 per vehicle for a one-day pass, or $80 for an annual pass. The Trump administration recently raised the annual fee to $250 for foreign visitors.
National Park Service officials did not respond to emails seeking comment on California's 2025 attendance.
