Riskiest per visit
15.3per 1M visits
Alaska's Wrangell-St. Elias recorded about one accidental death for every 65,000 visits, nearly 20 times the rate across all national parks.
Every year, millions of people set off into America's national parks, and a small number never make it home. Outforia compared nine years of National Park Service death records with visitor numbers to find where a single visit carries the most risk.
See the rankingsKey findings
Riskiest per visit
Alaska's Wrangell-St. Elias recorded about one accidental death for every 65,000 visits, nearly 20 times the rate across all national parks.
Most deaths
Yosemite had the most accidental deaths of any national park, yet ranks 9th once its 35 million visits are taken into account.
Leading cause
Falls caused 217 of the 601 accidental deaths, more than vehicle crashes or drownings.
The map
Every U.S. national park, 2014 to 2022. Tap a park for its numbers.
Rankings
How visitors died
Accidental deaths across all 63 national parks, 2014 to 2022, by cause.
Safety tips
Keep behind railings and off wet or loose rock near drop-offs and waterfalls. Most falls happen on ground that looks easy.
Slow down on curves and steep grades, pull fully off the road to take photos and watch for wildlife and pedestrians.
Rivers and lakes can be colder and faster than they look. Wear a life jacket on boats and never swim near currents or rapids.
Carry more water than you think you'll need, start hot hikes early and check the forecast before you set out.
In places like Alaska, help can be hours away. Share your plans, carry a way to call for help and book flights or boats with experienced operators.
Deadly wildlife encounters are rare, but keep your distance, never feed animals and follow the park's food storage rules.
Methodology
We wanted to know which national parks are riskiest for the average visitor, not just which ones record the most deaths.
What we counted: Accidental deaths in all 63 U.S. national parks from 2014 to 2022, such as falls, drownings, vehicle crashes and heat or cold exposure, using National Park Service records.
How we compared parks: We divided each park's accidental deaths by its visits over the same nine years, shown as deaths per 1 million visits. For example, Yosemite recorded 61 accidental deaths across about 35 million visits, or 1.7 deaths per 1 million visits.
Which parks we ranked: Only parks with at least 5 accidental deaths, because one or two incidents can make a quiet park look far riskier than it is.
What's not included: Medical deaths such as heart attacks, suicides, homicides and deaths where NPS couldn't confirm the cause was accidental.
Before 2014, NPS only recorded accidental deaths, not all deaths. From 2023 onward, records are still being coded. For example, intent is listed as undetermined for 191 of the 198 deaths recorded in 2025, so those years would understate risk. NPS has fully validated 2014 to 2019, and records for 2020 to 2022 are provisional.
Each rate has a 95% confidence range, which is wide for parks with few deaths. For example, Wrangell-St. Elias ranges from 7.0 to 29.0 deaths per 1 million visits. Where ranges overlap, parks are best read as a group rather than exact positions. For example, Yosemite (1.74), Glacier Bay (1.74) and Canyonlands (1.73) are effectively tied at ranks 9 to 11.
Recreation visits count entries, not time spent, so a multi-day backcountry trip counts the same as a short scenic stop. NPS updates its records continuously, so the same period queried later may differ slightly.
Journalists are welcome to use these findings. Please credit Outforia and link to this study. Hero photo: Backpackers exploring the Root Glacier, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, by the National Park Service, Alaska Region (public domain).