Is the $80 National Park pass worth it for your year?

Add the parks you plan to visit. We’ll total the entrance fees and tell you whether the $80 America the Beautiful annual pass pays off — with the free and discounted Senior, Military, Access, and 4th-grade passes built in. Every fee comes from nps.gov.

Parks you’ll visit
Before you buy — a few things this tool can’t do.

Methodology & sources

The math is simple and honest: we add each park’s current entrance fee times the number of separate trips you’ll make, then compare that total to the cost of the pass you qualify for. The pass “wins” once your total entrance fees would exceed its price. Free and discounted passes (Senior, Military, Access, 4th grade) are included with their current prices. Per-park fees and pass prices are taken from the official NPS pages below; each park in the picker links to its own nps.gov fee page.

Tool data REV . Refreshed periodically against nps.gov.

Frequently asked questions

Is the $80 America the Beautiful national park pass worth it?

It pays off once the entrance fees you'd otherwise pay add up to more than $80. Add each park's current entrance fee times the number of separate trips you'll make and compare to the $80 pass price. This tool does that math for your year of visits.

Are there free or discounted national park passes?

Yes. Seniors 62+ pay $20 annually or $80 once for a lifetime pass; active-duty military and dependents, veterans, and Gold Star families get a free pass; the Access pass (permanent disability) is free for life; and 4th graders get a free Every Kid Outdoors pass. All are included here at current prices.

Does the national park pass cover parking and timed-entry reservations?

No. Timed-entry permits (Arches, Rocky Mountain, Yosemite, and others) and special roads like Acadia's Cadillac Summit cost extra and aren't covered. Great Smoky Mountains has no entrance fee but charges a parking tag ($5/day, $15/week, $40/year) the pass doesn't cover — so the pass saves nothing there.

Is the park pass per vehicle or per person?

Most parks charge per vehicle, so everyone in the car is covered; a few (like Denali) charge per person. The pass covers one vehicle, or the holder plus 3 adults walking in.

Is a single-park annual pass cheaper than the $80 pass?

It can be, if you only ever visit one park — a Grand Canyon single-park annual pass is $70, for example. This tool compares your visits against the $80 interagency pass; if you'll only visit one park, check that park's own single-park pass too.