September 23, 2022
Top Ten States For Camping
The following is a compilation of some interesting data points that might assist you in your planning process for your next series of adventures. There's a lot of great research available online and we hope this quick summary will be helpful. It was interesting to us to see where the states rank and there were a few surprises. It was also great to confirm how popular all forms of camping have become. We'll keep updating with more useful data in the future!
Top Ten States For Camping Reservations
Based on an analysis of camping reservations on public land by the team at Outdoorsy.com, the following are the Top 10 states for camping reservations as of 2020. In addition, to the rankings, the data table shows their 5 year growth* (2015 - 2020) and the most popular destination by state.
| Rank | State | Growth* | Favorite Destination |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 58.8%% | Yosemite National Park |
| 2 | Colorado | 110.8% | Pike and San Isabel National Forests & Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands |
| 3 | Oregon | 133.8% | Deschutes National Forest |
| 4 | Utah | 131.1% | Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest |
| 5 | Texas | 58% | Georgetown Lake |
| 6 | Arkansas | 65.1% | Greers Ferry Lake |
| 7 | Washington | 131.6% | Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest |
| 8 | Tennessee | 52.7% | Great Smoky Mountains National Park |
| 9 | Arizona | 9.3% | Grand Canyon National Park |
| 10 | Missouri | 44.7% | Table Rock Lake |
Source: Reservations.Gov Recreation Information Database; Analysis by Outdoorsy.com
Top Ten Fastest Growing States For Camping Reservations
So if the Top 10 wasn't enough, here is the Top 10 FASTEST growing states by camping reservations. This list excludes Colorado, Utah, Oregon and Washington who are in this group of fastest growing states AND also in the top 10 overall. We thought we should make room for more, so they are respectfully excluded from this list.
| Rank | State | Growth* | Favorite Desintation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Indiana | 481.3% | Indiana Dunes National Park |
| 2 | Nevada | 366.3% | Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest |
| 3 | South Dakota | 291.7% | Black Hills National Forest |
| 4 | Michigan | 229.1% | Hiawatha National Forest |
| 5 | Wyoming | 147.4% | Bighorn National Forest |
| 6 | Montana | 101.8% | Custer Gallatin National Forest |
| 7 | Vermont | 98.5% | Ball Mountain Lake |
| 8 | Minnesota | 97.2% | Superior National Forest |
| 9 | North Carolina | 95.9% | National Forests in North Carolina |
| 10 | Idaho | 95.7% | Caribou-Targhee National Forest |
Source: Reservations.Gov Recreation Information Database; Analysis by Outdoorsy.com
Incidence Of Camping By Region
In the recently published KOA Campground Report for 2022, the incidence of camping across all regions continued to increase with the NorthEast showing the highest increase. This means no matter where you go, camping is popular. All regions are prospering in the benefits attributed to the outdoor lifestyle boom. Camping is also a wonderful way to support small and local businesses. (PS. Incidence is a fancy research term for number of/how many.)
| Region | 2021 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| MidWest | 69% | 65% | +4 |
| West | 72% | 69% | +3 |
| NorthEast | 70% | 65% | +5 |
| South | 72% | 68% | +4 |
Source: KOA Report 2002
RESEARCH
re·search/ˈrēˌsərCH,rə
Noun: the systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions.
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