National park visitors spent a record $29 billion last year and supported 340,100 jobs across the country, according to the National Park Service. Nevada’s share was smaller and more concentrated: 5.02 million visits, $327.3 million spent in nearby towns, 2,860 jobs, and $434.9 million in economic output.
Most of Nevada’s total comes from Lake Mead. The recreation area drew 6.41 million visits, ninth-most of any Park Service unit in the country. Visitors spent about $408 million around the reservoir, supporting roughly 3,660 jobs and $553 million in output on both sides of the state line. Nevada is credited with 75% of that activity. Arizona gets the other 25%. That is why the lake’s headline numbers are larger than the Nevada state total. Great Basin National Park is a distant second, with about 152,000 visits and $16.7 million in spending.
The park numbers leave out most of Nevada’s public land. The Nevada Division of Outdoor Recreation puts the broader outdoor economy at $24 billion a year and more than 75,000 jobs. Nearly 40% of that benefit lands in rural counties. On federal GDP accounts, outdoor recreation outranks mining.
The Department of the Interior puts deferred maintenance on Nevada’s federal lands at $1 billion, including Red Rock, the Nevada side of Death Valley, Lake Mead, and Great Basin. Congress has sent repair money through the Great American Outdoors Act and individual park projects, but not enough to clear the backlog.
