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If you are heading into the park in September, I want to give you a heads-up: The park will not be empty.
Contrary to popular thinking, the park doesn’t experience a huge decrease in population once Labor Day Weekend is behind us. In fact, Yellowstone’s September visitation is nearly as high as visitation in August, seeing 97.8% of the number of visitors in September compared with August. Before diving into the stats, I do want to let you know that a large amount of that is coming in the first two to three weeks. The end of the month starts seeing things slow down.
Now, before I get started, I want to say I have been studying visitation in Yellowstone for over a decade, obsessively. I can promise you that few people look at the data as much as I do. This is not me writing a clickbait article or trying to be a rabble-rouser. These are the facts.
In August 2024, Yellowstone welcomed 871,163 recreation visits, up about 3 percent from the previous year. Just a month later, in September 2024, the park recorded 852,435 visits, a drop of only 2.2%. That means September’s traffic was nearly the same as summer’s peak, more proof that people still flock to the park despite school schedules and cooler mornings.
Now I know that this goes against popular thinking, but the numbers do not lie. Those who tell you September is empty probably never visited in August and don’t know that it looks almost the same. If they have, they are looking at park visitation in September through rose-colored glasses. I mean, a difference of just 2.2% is a minimal drop.
It’s not just a one-off fluke. A look back at previous years, like 2024 versus 2024 earlier or even versus 2019, shows September holding its own. In 2024, September was teeming with visitors, only about 16,000 fewer than August, a negligible dip overall. This trend upends the old thinking that visitors drop off sharply once kids go back to school. September buries that myth for good. These days, the park stays just as vibrant as summer through at least Labor Day.
Part of the reason September is so much busier is because of changing travel patterns. The number one factor is that there are more retirees visiting the park. These are the ones who assume that “the kids are back in school, so the park will be empty.” This used to be the case in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s, but as more and more people get above the age of 65, more people visit the park.
Second, and a distant second, is flexible work schedules for many. Remote work has definitely increased the number of visitors; there is no denying that. But this increase is nowhere near the number of retirees in the park in September. Take one look at the average age of park visitors in the fall. Finally, some will say social media’s influence is stretching visitor seasons. When they say this, they usually mean influencers. Social media does drive a lot of September visitors, usually from Facebook, though, which caters to an older demographic.
None of this is written as a way to bemoan older visitors to the park. I want people to visit and love our public lands. This will help protect and fully fund them. I am merely sharing this information because I am tired of seeing so many visitors shocked that September is still busy. It has been busy for a decade.
Now, as I said in the opening paragraph, crowds do thin a bit later in the month. While many will extrapolate the September visitation data and assume they should take a trip to the park in October, the trend of increased visitation isn’t limited to the ninth month. Yes, the number of visitors in October is typically less than half of the visitation in September, but October visitation has also steadily climbed since that 2014-15 marker. You’ll also be dealing with more winter weather, as storms consistently close park roads in October. The park’s amenities are also closed down in October, as well as many of the restaurants, hotels, and other tourism-based industries in the gateway towns.
If you do plan on visiting the park in October, be prepared for a bare-bones experience, with potential snow, ice, closed roads, and a lack of places to stay or eat. You’ll have about 1/3rd the number of people, though.
