Data study · Reviewed August 2026
We scored every US national park and public land. Here is what the data says
We run one transparent formula, the Experience Score, over every US public land people visit, from Yellowstone to a one-room historic site to a quiet wildlife refuge. Here is what 589 scores reveal, and where the underrated trips hide. By Irene A. Taranina, founding editor.
The score is honest, so most parks are not 90s
The Experience Score measures documented breadth and access, not beauty, so it spreads out instead of clustering at the top. Of 589 units, 164 (28%) score 85 or above ("does it all"), 137 (23%) land in the 70s and low 80s, 154 (26%) sit in the 55 to 69 "good range", and 134 (23%) are focused specialists under 55. A high score means "there is a lot here and it is easy to reach", not "this is the best place on earth", which is exactly why a tiny, spectacular unit can score modestly without being any less worth your time.
The most documented units
These units record the widest range of activities, topics and access in the NPS data. Big, do-everything parks dominate, which is what the breadth metric is built to surface.
- Grand Teton National Park
- Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area
- Voyageurs National Park
- Lake Mead National Recreation Area
- Lassen Volcanic National Park
- Everglades National Park
- New River Gorge National Park & Preserve
- Curecanti National Recreation Area
Free entry is the most underrated feature in the system
468 of 589 units (79%) cost nothing to enter, and plenty of them score well. If you optimize a trip for value rather than fame, these are the ones to know.
- Missouri National Recreational River
- Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail
- Ozark National Scenic Riverways
- Wrangell - St Elias National Park & Preserve
- City Of Rocks National Reserve
- Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail
See the full free-entry ranking.
Hidden gems: high scores, no crowds, no fee
Strip out the household names and the free units that still score highly are the real finds, the places that reward a detour without the entrance line or the Instagram queue.
- Missouri National Recreational River
- Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail
- Ozark National Scenic Riverways
- Wrangell - St Elias National Park & Preserve
- City Of Rocks National Reserve
- Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail
What the parks are (and are not) built for
Across the catalog, the most commonly documented themes are hiking (416 units), guided tours (415 units), wildlife watching (395 units). The rarest, and therefore the hardest trips to plan, are climbing & caving (65 units), winter sports (90 units), stargazing (116 units). If you are chasing one of those rare experiences, the shortlist is genuinely short.
How the states compare
By raw count, the states with the most units are California (45), Oregon (45), Utah (34), Virginia (32), New York (29). But volume is not quality: ranked by average Experience Score (states with three or more units), the leaders are Wisconsin (avg 88), Alaska (avg 85), Vermont (avg 85), Michigan (avg 85), Maine (avg 83). Browse every state.
Score by type of unit
The "National Park" label is only one of dozens of NPS designations, and the breadth score tracks the difference. Averaged across every unit we score, the do-everything designations sit well above the single-purpose ones:
| Designation | Units | Avg score |
|---|---|---|
| National Park & Preserve | 8 | 96 |
| National Recreation Area | 16 | 92 |
| National Park | 50 | 91 |
| National Preserve | 9 | 90 |
| National Seashore | 10 | 89 |
| National Scenic Trail | 5 | 79 |
| National Battlefield | 10 | 77 |
| National Military Park | 9 | 76 |
How the score is built, on one real park
Take Great Basin National Park, which scores 91. Here is the exact arithmetic, straight from public NPS fields, with nothing hand-adjusted:
- Activity breadth (35 activities, capped at 20, worth up to 48)
- 48
- Topic breadth (5 topics, capped at 12, worth up to 16)
- 7
- Imagery (6 official photos, capped at 5, worth up to 14)
- 14
- Camping (documented)
- 12
- Free entry (yes)
- 10
- Experience Score (rounded, floored at 18)
- 91
Run that same arithmetic on all 589 units and you get the rankings on this site. Nothing is subjective, which is exactly why a beautiful single-feature park can score lower than a sprawling do-it-all one without being any less worth your time.
Method, in one paragraph
Every unit carries one Experience Score from 0 to 100, computed from documented public-data fields on the same breadth-and-access basis: activity breadth, topic breadth, imagery, camping and free access, floored at 18. No park pays for placement and no number is hand-adjusted, so the whole table is reproducible. Full detail is on how we score. Data is public-domain from the National Park Service Data API and Recreation.gov, and refreshes on a schedule; figures here reflect the 589 units published as of August 2026.
Citing this study: attribute to parkverdict and link to this page. parkverdict is published by Mine Marketing LTD and is not affiliated with the National Park Service.