California National Parks Had a Record Attendance Year in 2025

As the debate over federal park funding heats up, one thing is clear: people are still showing up to California’s national parks in huge numbers.

According to the latest visitation data, California parks defied a broader national trend in 2025, with several parks posting record or near-record attendance. Across the country, 26 national parks set all-time visitation records last year, and California was well represented in that group.

The numbers come at a critical moment. The Trump administration has proposed cutting the National Park Service budget by more than 25% for fiscal year 2027, which would eliminate thousands of staff positions on top of the 25% of the permanent workforce already lost over the past year. At Yosemite, the park’s timed-entry reservation system was dropped for 2026, and spring visitors already experienced two-hour entrance waits during peak weekends.

Despite the staffing challenges, the parks remain magnets for visitors. Yosemite alone attracts millions annually, and parks like Lassen Volcanic, Redwood, Sequoia and Kings Canyon continue to draw strong traffic from both in-state and out-of-state travelers.

The high attendance underscores just how much demand exists for public lands in California. It also sharpens the debate over whether proposed staff and budget reductions can be sustained without degrading the experience for the millions of people who depend on these parks for recreation, tourism and economic activity.

For now, no entrance reservations are required at Yosemite or any other California national park in 2026, making planning easier but crowd management harder.