Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska.

How Many Acres Do America's National Parks Cover?

According to the U.S. National Park Service (NPS), the United States has 63 National Parks covering approximately 52.5 million acres of land. Together that totals the size of the state of Kansas (per U.S. Census figures). It is important to note that the NPS actually manages 85 million acres over more than 400 sites. These include national monuments, historic sites and recreation areas. Here, our focus is on its 63 national parks which span 30 different states and two US territories. California is the state with the most national parks. Its nine individual national parks cover 6.35 million acres and account for 12% of all national park acreage in the U.S.

Which states hold the most parklandStates With The Most National Parks

The Largest and the Smallest National Parks

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve.
Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve.

The largest national park in the U.S., Wrangell-St. Elias National Park in Alaska, takes up 8.3 million acres (just for the park; there's also a separate national preserve). This park constitutes 16% of all national park acreage, and together with its adjoining national preserve it covers more ground than the country of Switzerland.

Six of the top 8 largest national parks are in Alaska. That state's national parks, combined, make up over half of the acreage of all 63 parks.

Outside of Alaska, the largest national park is Death Valley National Park, at 3.4 million acres.

The smallest national park, Gateway Arch National Park in Missouri, measures just 192.8 acres.

Parks with more than one million acres make up the top 12 largest national parks.

America's 12 Largest National Parks

1. Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska
Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve is the largest in the United States at 13.2 million acres. It holds nine of the 16 highest peaks in the country.

At 8,323,146.48 acres, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park in Alaska is larger than the state of Maryland. Counting its adjoining preserve, it is larger than Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite National Park, and the country of Switzerland combined.

2. Gates of the Arctic National Park, Alaska

Gates of the Arctic National Park, Alaska
Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve sits entirely above the Arctic Circle. It has no roads, no trails, and no visitor facilities inside the park.

Measuring 7,523,897.45 acres, Gates of the Arctic National Park in Alaska is the size of Massachusetts and Rhode Island combined. It is notable for having no paved roads, trails, or park facilities.

3. Denali National Park, Alaska

Denali National Park, Alaska
The peak at the center of Denali National Park rises to 20,310 feet, the tallest in North America. Its federal name was restored to Mount McKinley by executive order in January 2025; the park itself is still called Denali.

At 4,740,911.16 acres, Denali National Park in Alaska is larger than the state of New Jersey. It is also the site of the tallest peak in North America, Mount Denali (at 20,310 feet high).

4. Katmai National Park, Alaska

Katmai National Park, Alaska
Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park is the most-watched bear feeding site in the world. The park protects roughly 2,200 brown bears that gather to feed on sockeye salmon each summer.

Accounting for 3,674,529.33 acres, this national park is larger than the state of Connecticut. It is home to thousands of brown bears and the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes.

5. Death Valley National Park, California/Nevada

Death Valley National Park
Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park sits at 282 feet below sea level, the lowest point in North America. The park is the largest national park in the contiguous United States.

At 3,408,374.95 acres, Death Valley National Park is the largest national park in the continental U.S. It is bigger than the states of Delaware and Rhode Island combined.

6. Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska

Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska
Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve protects more than 1,000 glaciers. When Captain George Vancouver charted the area in 1794, the bay itself did not exist; the entire region was buried under ice.

Measuring 3,223,383.43 acres, Glacier Bay National Park is a bit larger than the state of Connecticut. Twenty percent of the park consists of pure marine waters, and glaciers cover about 27% of the park.

The biggest parks, ranked by total sizeThe Largest National Parks In The US

7. Lake Clark National Park, Alaska

Lake Clark National Park, Alaska
Lake Clark National Park and Preserve sits roughly 100 miles southwest of Anchorage. The park has no roads connecting it to the rest of the state.

Comprising 2,619,816.49 acres, Lake Clark National Park is larger than the states of Delaware and Rhode Island combined. It sits at the convergence of two mountain ranges and contains two active volcanoes.

8. Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming/Montana/Idaho

Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park became the first national park anywhere in the world when President Ulysses S. Grant signed the enabling act on March 1, 1872. The park holds roughly half of the world's active geysers.

At 2,219,790.71 acres, Yellowstone National Park is larger than the states of Rhode Island and Delaware combined. It covers 3,472 square miles across three states: Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho.

9. Kobuk Valley National Park, Alaska

Kobuk Valley National Park, Alaska
The Great Kobuk Sand Dunes inside Kobuk Valley National Park cover roughly 25 square miles, the largest active sand dunes in Arctic North America.

Measuring 1,750,716.16 acres, this national park is more than three times the size of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It is notable for the caribou wandering through the park, as well as for its 100-foot-high active sand dunes.

10. Everglades National Park, Florida

Everglades National Park, Florida
Everglades National Park protects the southern third of a 1.5-million-acre subtropical wetland that once covered most of southern Florida. The park is currently on the UNESCO List of World Heritage in Danger.

Covering 1,400,539.30 acres, Everglades National Park in Florida is a little larger than the size of Delaware. It contains the largest subtropical wilderness in North America, and was the first national park created for its biodiversity.

11. Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
The Grand Canyon gorge with the Colorado River.

At 1,201,647.03 acres, Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona is larger than the state of Rhode Island. It includes 278 miles of the Colorado River within the canyon. The city of Los Angeles could fit inside the park almost four times.

12. Glacier National Park, Montana

Glacier National Park, Montana
Beautiful landscape of the Glacier National Park.

Measuring 1,013,126.39 acres and rounding out the "million-acre parks," Glacier National Park in Montana is 1.3 times the size of Yosemite National Park. New York City could fit inside the park five times. Glacier National Park contains 175 named mountains, 700 miles of trails, and more than 760 lakes.

Trails worth crossing the country forThe Best Hikes To Take In The US

The U.S.'s Great National Parks

From the vast, 8.3-million-acre wilderness of Alaska's Wrangell-St. Elias down to the minuscule (by comparison) 192-acre footprint of Gateway Arch National Park, America's national park system spans a mind-boggling spectrum of size and geography. Combined, these 63 protected spaces cover more than 52 million acres of mountains, deserts, forests, and a varying landscape. Big or small, each park offers a piece of public land that is worth protecting, and, more importantly, worth exploring.

[Park acreages are sourced from the official U.S. National Park Service Land Resources Division Acreage Reports as of June 30, 2026, measured in gross area acres. Geographic scale comparisons are calculated using U.S. Census Bureau land area measurements (excluding water area).]

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Susan Maphis July 29 2026 in Places

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