Cuyahoga Valley named #11 best national park in United States, #1 in affordability

In preparation for National Parks Week (April 20 to April 28), Travel Lemming, a popular online travel guide, analyzed data to rank all 63 US national parks and Cuyahoga Valley National Park ranked #11, due to high scores in affordability and accessibility and #1 as the most affordable national park in the country. The park also ranked #2 in the accessibility category. 

According to the report, visitors spend an average of $19.58 per visitor at Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

Cuyahoga Valley National Park is also one of the most crowded national parks in America and ranks #59 of 63 parks. In 2023, there were 2,860,059 recreation visits in the parks 32,571.89 acres, averaging 87.80 visitors per acre.

The top 11 US national parks according to the report are:

1. Shenandoah National Park, VA
2. Joshua Tree National Park, CA
3. Olympic National Park, WA
4. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, TN, NC
5. North Cascades National Park, WA
6. Grand Canyon National Park, AZ
7. Channel Islands National Park, CA
8. New River Gorge National Park, WV
9. Everglades National Park, FL
10. Redwood National and State Parks, CA
11. Cuyahoga Valley National Park, OH

Travel Lemming Writer, Meg O'Connor said, "As a data scientist and a huge fan of the outdoors, I love how much variety the United States has in its terrain, flora, and fauna. These data-driven rankings provide a numerical glimpse into how diverse our National Parks really are, and I feel like I could live several lifetimes and never get bored of visiting them. Since we truly have some stunning hidden gems in our park system, I think these rankings will help draw attention to some of the lesser-known but absolutely awe-inspiring parks in this country."

The report ranks the national parks on seven different factors:

• Crowds - Number of visits per acre of park land in 2023. (Sources: NPS 2023 Recreation Visit Data, Wikipedia Acreage Data)
• Reviews - Average visitor review score out of 5. (Sources: Google Maps, Yelp, TripAdvisor)
• Weather - A human comfort-based points system based on monthly temperature, seasonal humidity, amount of precipitation, and number of cloud-to-ground lightning strikes. (Sources: NOAA, Current Results, American Meteorological Society, Lightning Safety Council, CDC)
• Affordability - Average spending per visitor per park in 2023 (Sources: NPS Visitor Spending Effects, NPS 2023 Recreation Visit Data)
• Accessibility - Average driving distance to the park from the closest FAA Primary Airport and the closest hub airport. (Sources: FAA, Google Maps Driving Distance, Wikipedia Major US Airports)
• Jobs - The total number of jobs associated with each national park as defined by the NPS Visitor Spending Effects Report (Sources: NPS)
• Biodiversity - Number of species deemed "present or probably present." (Source: NPS Species List)

Some other notable parks that ranked well in individual categories were Hawai'i's Haleakala National Park, which had the best weather, Tennessee's Great Smoky Mountains, which is the most biodiverse, Alaska's Gates of the Arctic, which is least crowded, and Missouri's Gateway Arch, which is the most accessible.