Brink of the Lower Falls viewing area
NPS / Jacob W. Frank

JACKSON (WNE) — Unlike its undulating natural mountain scenery, Yellowstone had a very flat July.

The national park hosted 975,109 recreation visits last month — a 2% decrease from a year earlier and a 10% decrease from July 2021.

That stands in contrast to the town of Jackson, where visitation was up 12% compared to July 2024, which helps explain the traffic in town and congestion throughout the community.

The relatively slow July in Yellowstone comes as tourism professionals watch to see if — or, when — America’s first national park hosts more than 5 million visitors in one year, which would set a record.

Other parks routinely have more than 5 million visitors a year, like Great Smoky Mountain National Park in Tennessee, which had nearly three times as many visitors in 2021. But Yellowstone’s busiest year ever was 2021, when the park hosted over 4.8 million people. In Aug. 2024, park managers thought Yellowstone might eclipse 5 million visits, but visitation trickled off.

The record stood.

Last year, Yellowstone recorded 4.7 million visits, its second busiest year.

So far this year, the park has hosted roughly 2,666,031 recreation visits, up 1.5% from 2024 and down 0.1% from 2021.