Which States Have the Most (and Least) State and National Park Coverage?

You might be surprised that the states with the most land don’t necessarily have the most national parks or state parks. This interactive map and visualization from Playground Equipment gives you a rather interesting look at not only which states have the most and least amount of national parks and state parks, but which states have the highest and lowest percentage of land coverage for these parks across their states.

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While it may not be the biggest state in terms of size, it’s actually Hawaii that can claim being the state with the highest percentage of national park and state park coverage. Of Hawaii’s 4.1 million acres across the state, 9.41% are covered by either national parts of state parks. There are 50 state parks in Hawaii that span 30,000 acres collectively, with the state’s two national parks covering up 358,870 acres of land.

In comparison, Kansas has the lowest percentage of their overall land dedicated to state parks or national parks. In Kansas, only 0.06% of the state’s 52.6 million acres are covered by state parks or national parks, despite the state being home to 26 state parks. There are zero national parks in Kansas.

California, New York and Washington are the only three states across the country that have more than 200 national parks. Of the 3,729 state parks across the United States, 1,083 (29%) of them are within California, New York, Washington, Oregon and Florida. These are the ten states across America that have the most state parks.

1. California: 270
2. New York: 215
3. Washington: 212
4. Oregon: 195
5. Florida: 191
6. Massachusetts: 154
7. Illinois: 142
8. Pennsylvania: 121
9. Alaska: 119
10. Connecticut: 109

California also has more national parks than any other state. Nine of the 61 national parks (14.75%) are located across 6.3 million acres in California. These are the states that are home to the most national parks across the United States.

1. California: 9
2. Alaska: 8
3. Utah: 5
4. Colorado: 4
5. Arizona, Florida and Washington (tied): 3