Socioeconomic Monitoring (SEM) Visitor Survey park selection is designed so that each year's park units combine to improve understanding of all park types, including understudied parks. As the number of studied parks grows, so too does the representativeness of the data as a whole and the capacity to draw service-wide conclusions. This is achieved by:
- Identifying all parks with adequate visitor use data (5 years) for sampling and analysis purposes
- Classifying these parks as one of 4 categories: Nature, Recreation, Historic-Urban, Historic-Other
- Splitting each category into low and high visitation groups (8 total groups)
- Randomly selecting 3 parks from each of the 8 groups, for 24 total selected
2024 Selected Parks (fieldwork in progress)
Park Type | High Visitation | Low Visitation |
Historic, Non-Urban | Fort Frederica NM Vicksburg NMP Wilson's Creek NB |
Fort Larned NHS Homestead NHP Lyndon B Johnson NHP |
Historic, Urban | Boston NHP Kennesaw Mountain NBP Minute Man NHP |
Casa Grande Ruins NM Roger Williams NMem Salem Maritime NHS |
Natural | Arches NP Grand Canyon NP Hawai'i Volcanoes NP |
John Day Fossil Beds NM Mammoth Cave NP Organ Pipe Cactus NM |
Recreation | Indiana Dunes NL Lake Mead NRA Point Reyes NS |
Amistad NRA Padre Island NS Saint Croix NSR |
2023 Selected Parks (published October 2024)
Park Type | High Visitation | Low Visitation |
Historic, Non-Urban | Canyon de Chelly NM Fort Donelson NB Klondike Gold Rush NHP Alaska |
Aztec Ruins NM Grant-Kohrs Ranch NHS Tuskegee Airmen NHS |
Historic, Urban | Franklin Delano Roosevelt Mem National Capital Parks-East San Juan NHS |
Federal Hall NM Mary McLeod Bethune NHS Stones River NB |
Natural | Badlands NP Cuyahoga Valley NP Everglades NP |
Dinosaur NM Great Basin NP Lassen Volcanic NP |
Recreation | Delaware Water Gap NRA George Washington Mem PKWY Golden Gate NRA |
Gauley River NRA Greenbelt Park Prince William Forest Park |
2022 Selected Parks
Park Type | High Visitation | Low Visitation |
Historic, Non-Urban | Cumberland Gap NHP Mount Rushmore NM Vanderbilt Mansion NHS |
Fort Bowie NHS Fort Laramie NHS Martin Van Buren NHS |
Historic, Urban | Gateway Arch NP Korean War Veterans NMEM Thomas Jefferson NMEM |
General Grant NMEM Morristown NHP Thomas Edison NHP |
Natural | Capitol Reef NP Grand Teton NP Rocky Mountain NP |
Guadalupe Mountains NP Isle Royale NP Pinnacles NP |
Recreation | Cape Hatteras NS Natchez Trace PKWY National Capital Parks Central |
Catoctin MP Lake Meredith NRA Niobrara NSR |
Last updated: October 1, 2024