Visitation · National Lakeshore

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore visitation by month and year

July is the busiest month at Sleeping Bear Dunes, when the average temperature nearby is 69 degrees. December is the quietest, and the average temperature then is 28 degrees. An average July draws 469,888 visits where an average December draws 13,641. The crowd arrives with the warm weather and leaves with it. Annual visits rose 2.0 percent from 1,570,001 in 2019 to 1,601,747 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 Maple City 1E, 11 miles from the park's reference point at 799 feet, station USC00205097 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	1,601,747	-4.1%
2024	1,670,025	+4.5%
2023	1,598,248	+6.5%
2022	1,501,117	-12.9%
2021	1,722,955	+0.2%
2020	1,718,696	+9.5%
2019	1,570,001	-4.5%
2018	1,643,600	-2.1%
2017	1,678,126	-0.3%
2016	1,683,553	+9.6%

Visitation at other parks

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore River Raisin National Battlefield Park Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Keweenaw National Historical 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 USC00205097, 799 feet above sea level. Data refreshed October 14, 2026.