El Paso area National Parks among best in the country

Gabriela Rodríguez
·3 min read
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EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – Among the 63 National parks our country has, the Carlsbad caverns and White Sands National parks are positioned among the best ones on several categories.

In celebration of National Parks Week, Travel Lemming released its data-backed ranking of all 63 national parks, where the Carlsbad caverns placed #25 overall and White Sands on #30, both ranking in the top 10 in the weather category.

Travel Lemming’s national parks ranking is based on an analysis of data scoring each park across seven factors: affordability, accessibility, biodiversity, crowds, reviews, jobs, and weather.

The report revealed these insights: 

  • Carlsbad Caverns National Park scored #25 overall and ranks in the Top 20 in both the reviews (#12) and weather (#6) categories.

  • White Sands National Park ranks #30 overall. It also ranks #8 best in weather and #10 best in affordability (visitor spending).

  • Both New Mexico national parks rank in the Top 10 for best weather.

  • White Sands National Park largely tumbled in the rankings due to biodiversity, where it came in #60. The park only has 545 species present or probably present within its borders.

  • Shenandoah National Park ranks #1 overall for the second year in a row, with exceptional scores in biodiversity, affordability, weather, and accessibility.

  • Surprisingly, the most renowned national parks did not perform well in the rankings, largely due to the crowds and affordability factors. Yellowstone ranks at slot #16, Zion National Park at #18, and Yosemite National Park at slot #22.

  • Ohio’s Cuyahoga Valley is the most affordable park, Hawai’i’s Haleakalā National Park has the best weather, Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains is the most biodiverse, Alaska’s Gates of the Arctic the least crowded, and Missouri’s Gateway Arch the most accessible.

The top 10 US national parks in the USA according to the report are:

Ranking

National Park Name

State

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

“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 awe-inspiring parks in this country.” Travel Lemming writer Meg O’Connor said.

Methodology

National Parks were ranked on seven factors based on the following data:

· Crowds – Number of visits per acre of parkland 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, precipitation amount, and 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 nearest 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)

The overall rankings were determined by each park’s average ranking across all factors. The report’s methodology section provides further details.

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