In 2017, 28% of American adults reported visiting a historic site in the previous year—an increase of 4.4 percentage points from 2012, and a reversal of a decades-long downward trend.
Visitation rates have been converging among Americans of various ages, but college graduates remain substantially more likely to visit historic sites than those with lower levels of education.
Since hitting a recent low in visits in 1995, total visits to historic sites managed by the National Park Service increased 58% to a high of 120.3 million in 2016, before falling 7%, to 111.9 million visits in 2018.
In 2017, 24% of the U.S. adult population had visited a museum or art gallery in the previous year, an increase of almost three percentage points from the nadir in 2012.
As with historic sites, visitation rates have been converging among Americans of various ages, due in part to a substantial increase in visits by older Americans (ages 65 and above).
Direct to All Data: Historic Site Visits
Direct to All Data: Art Museum
About Gary Price
