California has the most with nine, followed by Alaska with eight, Utah with five, and Colorado with four. The newest national parks are New River Gorge National Park established on Dec. 27, 2020, White Sands National Park was upgraded from a national monument Dec.
Look to AlaskaElias National Park & Preserve may be the largest national park in the U.S., but some of its neighbors aren't too far behind. In fact, seven of the 10 biggest national parks can be found in Alaska.
States without National Parks are: Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho (see above,) Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
There's a total of 63 national parks in the United States. One might assume the parks would cover most of the country—but that's not the case! While there are dozens of parks, they only exist in a little more than half of the country's states. There are still 20 states that don't have a national park.
Remember the criteria to become a National Park. Of all the land in the Adirondack Park, only 2.6 million acres are owned by New York State. With more than half of the land privately owned (105 towns and villages exist in the Park), it could likely never live up to rule #3 under the National Park Service.