Our methodology
One instrument, applied identically to all 474 units
Every park on parkverdict carries an Experience Score from 0 to 100. It measures the documented breadth of what a unit offers and how easy it is to reach, drawn only from structured fields in the official National Park Service Data API. The same formula runs on every park, so the numbers are comparable and the ranking is reproducible.
National Park Service units scored on one rubric
Documented signals, each with a fixed weight
Paid placements, sponsored ranks or ad-driven scores
Scale, weights that sum to exactly 100, floored at 18
What the number means
An honest measure of breadth, not a verdict on beauty
We would rather ship a limited, transparent metric than dress up a guess as objective quality. So we are precise about what the Experience Score does and does not claim to be.
Documented breadth and access, measured the same way every time
A consistency tool built from public NPS fields. It rewards units that document a wide range of activities and topics, offer camping, are supported by official imagery, and are free or low cost to enter.
- Reproducible: rerun the formula, get the same number.
- Comparable: one rubric across all 474 units.
- Auditable: every input and weight is published below.
A subjective beauty, quality or "which park is better" rating
A small, spectacular park focused on one thing will score lower than a large do-it-all unit, because it documents less breadth, not because it is worse. Read the score as "how much is here and how reachable is it," then read our verdict for fit.
- Not a ranking of scenery, awe or personal taste.
- Not influenced by advertisers or affiliate partners.
- Not a substitute for the official nps.gov listing.
The formula, in full
Five weighted inputs that sum to exactly 100
The composite is a capped, weighted total of public NPS fields. Caps stop any single field from running away with the score. Nothing is hidden, and the maximum contribution of every input is fixed.
A worked example. The dial is not a mood. It is the visible sum of the five inputs on the right, each capped and weighted.
Composite = weighted total of five documented signals
Score = activity breadth (≤48) + topic breadth (≤16) + imagery (≤14) + camping (+12) + free entry (+10), rounded and floored at 18.
How the example above reaches 74
The process
How every one of the 474 units gets scored
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Pull structured fields from the NPS Data API
We read only official, structured fields for each unit: its documented activities, topics, entrance fees and official image set. No hand-picked inputs, no editorial guesses about what a park "feels" like.
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Count and cap each signal
Activities cap at 20, topics at 12, images at 5. Caps mean a unit that lists forty activities cannot dominate the field over one that lists twenty and a half. Breadth is rewarded up to a sensible ceiling, then levels off.
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Apply the fixed weights
Each capped signal is scaled to its weight: activity breadth up to 48 points, topic breadth up to 16, imagery up to 14, plus flat bonuses of 12 for camping and 10 for free entry. The weights are the same for every park and sum to 100.
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Round, floor and publish
The total is rounded to a whole number and floored at 18 so the most minimal unit still gets a fair baseline. That single number becomes the Experience Score you see on the dial.
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Re-score on every data refresh
When the NPS data changes on our refresh schedule, the score is recomputed. Nobody nudges a number by hand. If a park adds documented activities, its score moves on its own.
Reading the number
What each score band means
Bands translate the composite into plain language. They describe documented breadth and access, not a promise about how a place will move you.
| Range | Band | What it signals |
|---|---|---|
| 85 to 100 | Essential | Documents a very wide range of activities, topics and access. A do-everything unit. |
| 70 to 84 | Excellent | Broad, well-documented offering with strong access. Rewards a full day or a weekend. |
| 55 to 69 | Worth it | A solid, focused unit. Fewer documented activities, but a clear reason to visit. |
| 18 to 54 | Niche | Narrow or lightly documented. Often a specialist site that does one thing well. |
A park’s rank is earned by what it documents, never by who pays us.
The parkverdict scoring principle
Best-for rankings
How the theme lists are built
Our "best for" lists (stargazing, hiking, families, water, wildlife, winter and more) start from documented activities, then order the matches by Experience Score. A park appears under stargazing only if it genuinely documents astronomy or stargazing programming. No theme is a guess.
Sources and accountability
Where the facts come from, and how we fix them
Our sources
- The official National Park Service Data API, public domain, for activities, topics, fees and imagery.
- Official NPS unit pages on nps.gov for hours, closures and current conditions.
- NPS visitation data for scale context, kept separate from the score itself.
Freshness and corrections
- Underlying facts refresh on a schedule, and scores recompute automatically when data changes.
- Fees, hours and closures shift often. Always confirm on the official nps.gov listing before you travel.
- Spotted something wrong? Corrections are reviewed on a rolling basis. Email us and we will fix it.
How the score stays honest
How we make money
parkverdict is supported by display advertising. Advertising is served and measured entirely separately from the scoring pipeline.
The firewall
Advertisers have no input into any Experience Score or ranking. The formula runs on NPS data alone, with no field for who is spending money.
What we never do
We never accept payment for a higher rank, never take sponsorship for a placement, and have no commercial relationship with the National Park Service.
Why publish the math
Because a score you cannot check is just an opinion. Every input, cap and weight on this page is the exact formula behind the dial.
The honest caveats
What the score cannot tell you
It is documentation, not experience
A park that under-documents its offering will score lower than it might deserve. The score reflects what NPS records, not everything that exists on the ground.
It does not read seasons
A winter-only or summer-only unit is scored on its full documented breadth. Always check current conditions and closures before you go.
It changes over time
As NPS data is updated, scores move. That is a feature, not a flaw. We would rather the number track reality than sit frozen for consistency.
Methodology v2.0, last reviewed June 2026. Changes to the formula are versioned here.
See it applied
Now read the rankings the score produces
You have the full formula. See how all 474 units sort out, or jump straight to the best-of lists built on top of it.