Key points from the ranking
- Gateway Arch in Missouri is the safest national park on Cocoweb’s index, with a score of 16.65 out of 100, no recorded fatalities and no search and rescue (SAR) incidents.
- North Cascades in Washington is the most dangerous, scoring 68.04. It had only 40,351 visitors in 2023 but 26 fatalities since 2007 and the highest SAR rate on the chart, 921.91 incidents per million visitors.
- Six of the 20 most dangerous parks are in Alaska, including Lake Clark (second, 62.82) and Denali (third, 52.06).
- Higher scores mean more danger. Each park is scored out of 100 across six factors: fatality rate, dangerous animals, extreme temperatures, SAR rate, vertical relief, and cell service and WiFi.
The 20 safest national parks
Values as printed on the graphic, which matches the data table on Cocoweb’s page [1]. Lower scores are safer.
| Rank | National park | Visitors 2023 | Fatalities 2007 to 2023 (per million visitors) | SAR per million visitors | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gateway Arch, Missouri | 2,422,836 | 0 (0) | 0.00 | 16.65 |
| 2 | Indiana Dunes, Indiana | 2,765,892 | 28 (0.79) | 7.70 | 17.09 |
| 3 | Mammoth Cave, Kentucky | 654,450 | 10 (1.12) | 26.76 | 19.12 |
| 4 | Petrified Forest, Arizona | 520,491 | 0 (0) | 0.54 | 19.65 |
| 5 | Cuyahoga Valley, Ohio | 2,860,059 | 28 (0.67) | 2.59 | 19.76 |
| 6 | Channel Islands, California | 328,746 | 14 (2.62) | 34.93 | 20.59 |
| 7 | Haleakalā, Hawaii | 791,292 | 14 (0.81) | 1.96 | 20.81 |
| 8 | New River Gorge, West Virginia | 1,707,223 | 0 (0) | 9.67 | 21.41 |
| 9 | Congaree, South Carolina | 250,114 | 1 (0.41) | 0.00 | 21.52 |
| 10 | Virgin Islands, US Virgin Islands | 343,685 | 39 (6.32) | 3.67 | 22.17 |
| 11 | Lassen Volcanic, California | 418,978 | 4 (0.54) | 34.29 | 22.93 |
| 12 | White Sands, New Mexico | 729,096 | 6 (0.65) | 16.63 | 23.23 |
| 13 | Shenandoah, Virginia | 1,576,008 | 40 (1.77) | 32.90 | 23.95 |
| 14 | Hawai’i Volcanoes, Hawaii | 1,620,294 | 14 (0.57) | 3.91 | 24.11 |
| 15 | Bryce Canyon, Utah | 2,461,269 | 3 (0.10) | 20.55 | 24.18 |
| 16 | Hot Springs, Arkansas | 2,502,967 | 5 (0.19) | 3.18 | 24.39 |
| 17 | Biscayne, Florida | 571,242 | 17 (1.86) | 9.94 | 24.81 |
| 18 | Joshua Tree, California | 3,270,404 | 31 (0.85) | 16.55 | 25.88 |
| 19 | Zion, Utah | 4,623,238 | 56 (0.91) | 26.15 | 26.00 |
| 20 | Guadalupe Mountains, Texas | 227,340 | 6 (1.92) | 72.56 | 26.05 |
The 20 most dangerous national parks
Higher scores are more dangerous.
| Rank | National park | Visitors 2023 | Fatalities 2007 to 2023 (per million visitors) | SAR per million visitors | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Cascades, Washington | 40,351 | 26 (57.94) | 921.91 | 68.04 |
| 2 | Lake Clark, Alaska | 16,728 | 4 (17.44) | 296.50 | 62.82 |
| 3 | Denali, Alaska | 498,722 | 65 (8.46) | 87.04 | 52.06 |
| 4 | Wrangell-St. Elias, Alaska | 78,305 | 9 (7.83) | 93.70 | 49.04 |
| 5 | Isle Royale, Michigan | 28,965 | 2 (5.98) | 728.11 | 46.68 |
| 6 | Gates of the Arctic, Alaska | 11,045 | 0 (0) | 493.70 | 43.33 |
| 7 | Sequoia and Kings Canyon, California | 980,567 | 91 (5.04) | 157.93 | 42.22 |
| 8 | Grand Teton, Wyoming | 3,417,106 | 64 (1.25) | 24.83 | 41.39 |
| 9 | Yellowstone, Wyoming | 4,501,382 | 70 (1.10) | 32.97 | 40.33 |
| 10 | Glacier Bay, Alaska | 2,933,616 | 7 (0.03) | 0.62 | 38.85 |
| 11 | Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee | 13,297,647 | 134 (0.72) | 6.05 | 36.91 |
| 12 | Big Bend, Texas | 509,129 | 31 (4.52) | 90.85 | 35.69 |
| 13 | Grand Canyon, Arizona | 4,733,705 | 185 (2.24) | 53.85 | 35.54 |
| 14 | Everglades, Florida | 810,189 | 15 (0.92) | 29.55 | 35.52 |
| 15 | Great Basin, Nevada | 143,265 | 1 (0.51) | 54.50 | 34.76 |
| 16 | Katmai, Alaska | 33,763 | 6 (0.01) | 0.10 | 32.89 |
| 17 | Death Valley, California | 1,099,632 | 62 (3.31) | 20.27 | 32.63 |
| 18 | Mount Rainier, Washington | 1,674,294 | 74 (3.33) | 37.25 | 32.56 |
| 19 | Rocky Mountain, Colorado | 4,115,837 | 65 (1.04) | 30.77 | 32.31 |
| 20 | Crater Lake, Oregon | 559,976 | 10 (1.04) | 19.43 | 32.26 |
How the safety score works
The graphic’s methodology section explains that each park could earn up to 100 points, and that “the higher the score a National Parks earns, the more dangerous it is considered to be.” The points are split as follows.
- Fatality rate per one million visitors, up to 20 points.
- Dangerous animals, up to 20 points. Points are given for each of 16 animals present in the park, weighted by abundance: abundant 4, common 3, unknown 2, and uncommon, rare or occasional 1. The animals include bears, moose, bison, mountain lions, four snakes, alligators, crocodiles and five shark species.
- Extreme temperatures, up to 20 points: highest average temperature up to 7, record high up to 3, lowest average temperature up to 7 and record low up to 3.
- Rate of SAR incidents per million visitors, up to 15 points.
- Vertical relief, the gap between the highest and lowest points in the park, up to 15 points.
- Cell service and WiFi, up to 10 points. Cell service scores from 0 (yes) to 6 (no), and visitor centre WiFi from 0 (yes) to 4 (no), so poor coverage adds danger points.
Each ticket on the graphic also shows the average SAR incidents a year, vertical relief, average and record temperatures, and icons for the dangerous animals and the most common cause of fatalities. Data sources printed on the graphic are the National Park Service (fatalities, animals, cell and WiFi, visitor numbers), nationalparked.com (weather), PennLive (search and rescue) and Wikipedia (elevation).
Why remote parks rank as most dangerous
Cocoweb’s write up says North Cascades is “almost entirely protected wilderness with few roads, paths, or structures”, that ten of its 26 fatalities between 2007 and 2023 were caused by falls, and that a lack of public WiFi and very limited cell coverage can make an emergency harder to deal with [1]. Because the index uses rates per million visitors, a few incidents in a lightly visited park weigh heavily. Lake Clark had 16,728 visitors in 2023 and four fatalities, which gives it a fatality rate of 17.44 per million. Busy parks such as Grand Canyon (185 fatalities) and Great Smoky Mountains (134) record far more deaths in total but rank lower, at 13th and 11th.
At the safe end, Gateway Arch is the smallest national park, 91 acres in St. Louis [1].
Notes on this infographic
- Glacier Bay visitor figure. The graphic gives Glacier Bay (Alaska) 2,933,616 visitors in 2023, while Glacier National Park (Montana) appears in Cocoweb’s full table with 703,659 [1]. These look swapped. Wikipedia’s list of US national parks gives 740,044 recreation visitors for Glacier Bay and 3,136,557 for Glacier in 2025 [2]. If the figures are swapped, Glacier Bay’s very low fatality and SAR rates (0.03 and 0.62 per million) are understated.
- Katmai rates. Katmai shows 6 fatalities and 33,763 visitors but a fatality rate of 0.01 per million, far below parks with similar counts and fewer visitors, such as Lake Clark. The graphic does not explain the difference, so treat the Katmai and Glacier Bay rates with caution.
- Missing data. Scores marked with an asterisk on the graphic, for example White Sands, Grand Canyon and Everglades, were given a mid-range score for at least one factor because data was not available.
- Coverage. The graphic shows the top and bottom 20. Cocoweb ranks 61 parks on its page: American Samoa was excluded for missing data, and Sequoia and Kings Canyon are scored together [1]. Visitor figures are for 2023 and fatalities cover 2007 to 2023.
Questions about the safest national parks
What is the safest national park?
On Cocoweb’s index, Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis, Missouri, with a score of 16.65 out of 100. It had no fatalities or SAR incidents and no dangerous animals on the index. Indiana Dunes is second at 17.09 and Mammoth Cave third at 19.12 [1].
What is the most dangerous national park?
North Cascades National Park in Washington, scoring 68.04, followed by Lake Clark (62.82) and Denali (52.06), both in Alaska [1].
Sources
- Cocoweb, The Safest (and Most Dangerous) National Parks in the United States. The creator’s page for this graphic, with the full table of 61 parks.
- Wikipedia, List of national parks of the United States, recreation visitors 2025.
Last reviewed 30 October 2026
