News Release

Tourism to Yellowstone creates $834 million in economic benefits; Report shows visitor spending supports 8,736 jobs in local economy

Family photo at the East Entrance park sign

NPS / Jacob W. Frank

News Release Date: June 29, 2022

Contact: Morgan Warthin, [phone]

MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS, WY – A new National Park Service (NPS) report shows that 4.9 million visitors to Yellowstone National Park in 2021 spent over $630 in communities near the park. That spending supported 8,736 jobs in the local area and had a cumulative benefit to the local economy of $834 million.

The peer-reviewed visitor spending analysis was conducted by economists at the National Park Service and the U.S. Geological Survey. The report shows $20.5 billion of direct spending by more than 297 million park visitors in communities within 60 miles of a national park. This spending supported 322,600 jobs nationally; 269,900 of those jobs are found in these gateway communities. The cumulative benefit to the U.S. economy was $42.5 billion.

As for the economics of visitor spending, the lodging sector had the highest direct effects, with $7 billion in economic output nationally. The restaurants sector was had the second greatest effects, with $4.2 billion in economic output nationally.

Report authors also produce an interactive tool that enables users to explore visitor spending, jobs, labor income, value added, and output effects by sector for national, state, and local economies. Users can also view year-by-year trend data. The interactive tool and report are available at the NPS Social Science Program webpage: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/socialscience/vse.htm.

Learn more about national parks in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho and how the National Park Service works with communities in these states to help preserve local history, conserve the environment and provide outdoor recreation.