Visitation · National Park

White Sands National Park visitation by month and year

March is the busiest month at White Sands, when the average temperature nearby is 52 degrees. February is the quietest, and the average temperature then is 45 degrees. The gap between them is narrow, 99,222 against 41,885. The peak sits well away from the warmest month, which is July. Annual visits rose 8.4 percent from 608,785 in 2019 to 659,742 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 White Sands Natl Mon, 9 miles from the park's reference point at 4,006 feet, station USC00299686 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	659,742	-6.1%
2024	702,236	-3.7%
2023	729,096	+3.4%
2022	705,127	-9.9%
2021	782,469	+88.4%
2020	415,383	-31.8%
2019	608,785	+1.0%
2018	603,008	-1.5%
2017	612,468	+10.2%
2016	555,793	+11.7%

Visitation at other parks

Carlsbad Caverns National Park Petroglyph National Monument Great Smoky Mountains National Park Zion National Park

Compare White Sands with Guadalupe Mountains 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 USC00299686, 4,006 feet above sea level. Data refreshed October 14, 2026.