Visitation · National Park

Petrified Forest National Park visitation by month and year

June is the busiest month at Petrified Forest, when the average temperature nearby is 71 degrees. February is the quietest, and the average temperature then is 39 degrees. June runs about 3.0 times the visits of February. The peak falls with the warmth, though February is not the coldest month. Annual visits fell 50.9 percent, from 643,588 in 2019 to 315,951 in 2025.

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Visits by month, with temperature and precipitation

Bars are the average recreation visits in each month over 2021 to 2025. The line is the average temperature at Painted Desert NP, 6 miles from the park's reference point at 5,760 feet, station USC00026190 in the NOAA 1991 to 2020 climate normals. The lower panel is monthly rain and snow from the same station, also 1991 to 2020 averages.

Annual visits, 1979 to 2025

Recreation visits per calendar year. A year with a missing month is left blank rather than estimated.

The last ten years

Year	Recreation visits	Change on prior year
2025	315,951	-43.5%
2024	559,254	+7.4%
2023	520,491	+3.0%
2022	505,209	-14.4%
2021	590,334	+53.5%
2020	384,483	-40.3%
2019	643,588	-0.2%
2018	644,922	+2.7%
2017	627,757	-2.4%
2016	643,274	-18.9%

Visitation at other parks

Lake Mead National Recreation Area Grand Canyon National Park Great Smoky Mountains National Park Zion National Park

Compare Petrified Forest with Saguaro National Park

Compare Petrified Forest with Grand Canyon National Park

Source: NPS Visitor Use Statistics, monthly recreation visits, as compiled for Publicopia Labs. A year is shown only when all twelve months were reported. Temperature, precipitation and snowfall normals are the 1991 to 2020 monthly averages published by NOAA NCEI for station USC00026190, 5,760 feet above sea level. Data refreshed October 14, 2026.