As of 2023, Chugach State Park in Anchorage, Alaska, was the largest city park in the United States by a long shot, spanning 464,318 acres. Second in the ranking was the Great Dismal Swamp in the Coastal Plain Region of southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina, at 113 thousand acres. A wide variety of park authorities Most parks in the U.S. are owned by the municipality, state, county, regional agency, or the federal government. Both McDowell Sonoran Preserve and South Mountain Preserve are part of the state park system along with most of the parks in the ranking. One of the more well-known park authorities is the National Park Service (NPS) – an agency of the federal government. Blue Ridge Parkway was the most visited NPS park in 2023 alongside many other well-known U.S. parks. What defines a park? Parks in the U.S. are often called a variety of names, just a few of which are: forest, reserve, preserve and wildlife management area. Sometimes the differences between parks in the U.S. can vary massively from monuments to expansive woodland. The Lincoln Memorial made the ranking of the most visited city parks in the U.S., while this may not seem like it comes under the classification of a ‘park’, it is cared for by the National Park Service.

The city park with the highest annual visitation in 2023 was Central Park in New York, accounting for a total of 42 million visitors. The second most visited city park in that year was Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, with nearly half the visitation of Central Park, at 24 million.

This graph depicts the size of county-owned city parks in the U.S. in 2010. The Bear Creek Pioneers Park in Houston has an area of 2,168 acres.

This statistic shows the cities with the largest number of park playgrounds in the United States in 2023. There were 1,691 park playgrounds in New York in 2023, making it the U.S. city with the most park playgrounds.

This graph depicts the size of municipally owned city parks in the U.S. in 2010. The Cullen Park in Houston has a size of 9270 acres.

This statistic shows the cities with the largest number of park playgrounds per 10,000 residents (not including playgrounds in school sites) in the United States in 2023. There were 7 park playgrounds for every 10,000 residents in Madison, Wisconsin, making it the city with the most playgrounds per 10,000 residents.

In 2023, New York City had the highest public park and recreation spending of any city in the United States at approximately 1.49 billion U.S. dollars. Second in the ranking was Chicago, Illinois, which spent around 573 million U.S. dollars on parks and rec.

With over 17.7 million visitors in 2023, the most visited amusement park in the United States was Magic Kingdom Theme Park at Walt Disney World Resort, located in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Meanwhile, Epcot recorded the country's the third highest attendance that year, with nearly 12 million visitors.

This graph shows the cities with the most acres of parkland per 1,000 residents in the United States in 2023. In that year, Anchorage, Alaska, had the most parkland per 1,000 residents with approximately 3,022 acres of land.

In 2023, the city in the United States with the highest share of parkland was Anchorage, Alaska, where approximately 80 percent of the city was parkland. In second place, with almost half the percentage of parkland was Fremont, California, where 44 percent of the city was parkland.

The Magic Kingdom theme park at Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida, was visited by approximately 17.72 million people in 2023, making it the most visited amusement park in North America that year. The only park outside of the U.S. to make the list was Canada's Wonderland in Ontario.

The city in the United States with the largest number of off-leash dog parks per 100,000 residents was Boise, Idaho, with 7.6 off-leash dog parks per 100,000 residents in 2023. This is shortly followed by Portland, Oregon which accounted for 5.8 dog parks per 100,000 residents.

With approximately 16.8 million recreational visits in 2023, the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina and Virginia was the most visited National Park Service site in the United States. Meanwhile, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in California was the second most visited site in the country.

As of April 2024, the amusement park with the most roller coasters in the United States was Six Flags Magic Mountain in California. Magic Mountain became the first U.S. amusement park to offer 20 roller coasters when it opened Wonder Woman: Flight of Courage in 2022. What is the fastest roller coaster in the U.S.? As of May 2024, the fastest roller coaster in the U.S. was Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey. The coaster has a top speed of 128 miles per hour (around 206 kilometers per hour) and propels riders straight up a 456-foot tower at a 90-degree angle. After reaching the peak, the ride plunges down in a 270-degree spiral, followed by a 129-foot camel hump hill. What is the longest roller coaster in the U.S.? As of May 2024, the Beast at the King Island amusement park in Mills, Ohio, was the longest roller coaster in the U.S. at 7,361 feet (around 2,243 meters). The roller coaster was not only the longest in the U.S. during that period but the longest wooden roller coaster in the world. Other roller coasters that made the top 10 ranking were Fury 325, Millennium Force, and Wild Thing.

Among the 25 national parks visited by the largest share of adults in the U.S., those who had visited the Grand Canyon were the most likely to strongly recommend it to others. Comparatively, only 46 percent of respondents that had visited Death Valley would strongly recommend it.

A 2022 survey found that 81 percent of respondents from the United States would visit a national park in their home country in order to see nature, making it the main reason to visit a national park. Other leading motivations for visiting a national park include seeing new places, taking scenic drives, and vacationing. Meanwhile, mountain climbing was the least common reason to go to a national park, with only 10 percent of respondents saying so.

The Magic Kingdom Theme Park, located at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, was the most visited Disney theme park location in the United States in 2023, with over 17.7 million visitors. Meanwhile, the Disney theme park with the fewest visitors that year, also located at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, was Typhoon Lagoon, which reported just under two million guests.

In 2024, the city with the highest spending per capita on parks and recreation in the United States was Irvine, California. The city spent around 643 U.S. dollars per resident on parks and recreation that year.

In 2023, national park visitors in the United States spent a combined total of 22.1 billion U.S. dollars on local gateway economies. Park visitors spent most of their money on lodging, which constituted 44.7 percent of the total expenditures that year.

National parks were the most visited type of park in the United States in 2023. Overall, 28 percent of recreational visits to national sites in the North American country were to national parks, whereas national monuments recorded just six percent of total visits that year.