Aerial view of the Alatna River as it winds through a valley
National Parks 35 parks Updated 2026

Largest National Parks in the U.S.

Photo: NPS Photo / Sean Tevebaugh
35
Parks
21
States
12
Free Entry
Grand Canyon
#1 Most Visited

Quick answer: Wrangell-St. Elias in Alaska is the largest national park in the United States at 13,175,799 acres — more than six times the size of Yellowstone. Death Valley is the largest park in the contiguous 48 states at 3.4 million acres.

Alaska dominates this list. Seven of the ten largest national parks in the United States are in Alaska — a consequence of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980, which added more than 47 million acres to the national park system in a single stroke. Wrangell-St. Elias alone is larger than Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the entire country of Switzerland combined.

Map

Largest National Parks in the U.S.

# Park Area
1
7,523,898 acres
2
6,045,153 acres
3
3,422,024 acres
4
3,283,168 acres
5
2,619,733 acres
6
1,508,938 acres
7
1,201,647 acres
8
922,650 acres
9
801,163 acres
10
337,598 acres
11
310,044 acres
12
249,561 acres
13
242,756 acres
14
241,904 acres
15
236,381 acres
16
183,224 acres
17
172,971 acres
18
138,999 acres
19
106,589 acres
20
91,440 acres
21
76,679 acres
22
70,814 acres
23
70,447 acres
24
64,701 acres
25
54,011 acres
26
49,052 acres
27
46,766 acres
28
35,835 acres
29
32,572 acres
30
30,780 acres
31
26,686 acres
32
26,546 acres
33
Virgin Islands National Park
U.S. Virgin Islands
 14,689 acres
34
8,257 acres
35
91 acres

Top 10 — Largest National Parks in the U.S.

1.

Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserve

Alaska

Key Facts

Established
1980
Area
7,523,898 acres
Visitors / yr
≈ 11K (2023)
Entry fee
Free

Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserve was established in 1980 and named for two Brooks Range peaks that explorer Robert Marshall called the 'gates of the Arctic' in 1930 — a 7,523,898-acre roadless wilderness in Alaska above the Arctic Circle with no maintained trails or visitor facilities of any kind.

Read more about Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserve
2.

Denali National Park & Preserve

Alaska

Key Facts

Established
1917
Area
6,045,153 acres
Visitors / yr
≈ 601K (2023)
Entry fee
$15

Denali National Park & Preserve protects 6,045,153 acres of Alaska wilderness centered on Denali — North America's highest peak at 20,310 feet — established as Mount McKinley National Park in 1917 and renamed in 1980. A single 92-mile road bisects the park; private vehicles are permitted only to mile 15, and most visitors see the interior by park bus.

Read more about Denali National Park & Preserve
3.

Death Valley National Park

California · West

Key Facts

Established
1994
Area
3,422,024 acres
Visitors / yr
≈ 1.1 million (2023)
Entry fee
$30/vehicle

Death Valley National Park covers 3,422,024 acres of desert basin and mountain in California and Nevada — the largest national park in the contiguous United States, established in 1994 from a national monument that dates to 1933. Badwater Basin, at 282 feet below sea level, is the lowest point in North America, and the park holds the world's highest reliably recorded air temperature of 134 °F (56.7 °C).

Read more about Death Valley National Park
4.

Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve

Alaska

Key Facts

Established
1980
Area
3,283,168 acres
Visitors / yr
≈ 60K (2023)
Entry fee
Free

Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve in southeastern Alaska, established in 1980 and designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992, contains the world's largest assemblage of tidewater glaciers in a single protected area — 3,283,168 acres where a massive ice sheet has retreated 65 miles in roughly 250 years.

Read more about Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve
5.

Lake Clark National Park & Preserve

Alaska

Key Facts

Established
1980
Area
2,619,733 acres
Visitors / yr
≈ 12K (2023)
Entry fee
Free

Lake Clark National Park and Preserve protects 2,619,733 acres of southwest Alaska where the Alaska Range meets the Aleutian Range in the glacier-covered Chigmit Mountains. Two active volcanoes rise over tundra valleys, sockeye salmon crowd five river systems each summer, and brown bears gather on the Cook Inlet coast in concentrations rare anywhere in the world. The park has no road access; the only way in is by small aircraft or, along the southern coast, by boat. About 12,000 visitors arrived in 2023, and Dena'ina Athabascan communities have relied on the land for thousands of years under federally recognized subsistence rights.

Read more about Lake Clark National Park & Preserve
6.

Everglades National Park

Florida · Southeast

Key Facts

Established
1934
Area
1,508,938 acres
Visitors / yr
≈ 1.2 million (2023)
Entry fee
$35/vehicle

Everglades National Park covers 1,508,938 acres of subtropical wetland and coastal wilderness at the southern tip of Florida, authorized in 1934 and dedicated in 1947 as the first national park established to protect biodiversity rather than scenery. It is the largest tropical wilderness in the United States, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the only place in the world where American alligators and American crocodiles coexist in the wild.

Read more about Everglades National Park
7.

Grand Canyon National Park

Arizona · Southwest

Key Facts

Established
1919
Area
1,201,647 acres
Entry fee
$35/vehicle

Grand Canyon National Park in northwestern Arizona, established February 26, 1919, preserves a 277-mile gorge carved by the Colorado River — over a mile deep and up to 18 miles wide — whose layered walls expose 1.7 billion years of Earth's geological history and rank it among the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.

Read more about Grand Canyon National Park
8.

Olympic National Park

Washington · West

Key Facts

Established
1938
Area
922,650 acres
Visitors / yr
≈ 4 million (2023)
Entry fee
$30/vehicle

Olympic National Park in Washington State protects 922,650 acres across three distinct ecosystems — temperate rainforest, glaciated alpine peaks, and 73 miles of Pacific coastline — making it the 6th most visited national park in the United States. Established in 1938, the park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to the largest unmanaged Roosevelt elk herd on Earth.

Read more about Olympic National Park
9.

Big Bend National Park

Texas · Southwest

Key Facts

Established
1944
Area
801,163 acres
Visitors / yr
≈ 519K (2023)
Entry fee
$30/vehicle

Big Bend National Park in Texas protects 801,163 acres of Chihuahuan Desert, the Chisos Mountains, and 118 miles of Rio Grande border with Mexico; established in 1944, it records more than 450 bird species — the highest count of any U.S. national park.

Read more about Big Bend National Park
10.

Canyonlands National Park

Utah · Rockies

Key Facts

Established
1964
Area
337,598 acres
Visitors / yr
≈ 840K (2023)
Entry fee
$30/vehicle

Canyonlands National Park in Utah protects 337,598 acres of canyon wilderness carved by the Colorado and Green rivers, making it Utah's largest national park. Established in 1964, the park draws roughly 840,000 visitors a year across four separate districts with no connecting roads.

Read more about Canyonlands National Park

Showing 10 of 35 parks. · See full list above ↑