Yosemite National Park recorded 61 accidental deaths between 2014 and 2022, the most of any national park in the country, according to a new report. Two more California parks — Sequoia and Kings Canyon, and Death Valley — also landed among the nation's deadliest, with falls and vehicle crashes emerging as the most common killers.
California Parks Dominate the Rankings
The figures come from an analysis by Outforia, which, according to Victorville Daily Press, ranked Yosemite National Park first nationally for accidental deaths. Death Valley National Park recorded 27 accidental deaths over the same stretch, the outlet reports. Outforia analyzed mortality data and visitor numbers for all 63 U.S. national parks from 2014 through 2022, as reported by Visalia Times-Delta.
Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks, straddling Tulare County, recorded 42 accidental deaths during the same nine-year window, the Times-Delta notes, placing the Tulare County parks fourth nationally for total accidental deaths. Falls were the leading cause of death at both Yosemite and at Sequoia and Kings Canyon, the same report found.
What's Actually Killing Visitors
Death Valley's numbers tell a different story. There, vehicle crashes — not falls — were the leading cause of accidental death, per the Daily Press account. The split underscores how terrain and visitor behavior shape risk differently across California's park system, from the granite cliffs of Yosemite Valley to the sprawling desert highways of Death Valley.
Nationally, falls accounted for 217 of 601 accidental deaths during the study period, the single biggest killer across all 63 parks, the Times-Delta reports. Vehicle crashes made up 21% of fatalities and drownings accounted for 16.3%, the same report notes. Wildlife-related deaths, despite often dominating headlines and social-media warnings about bears and mountain lions, accounted for less than 1% of accidental fatalities during the study period.
Raw Totals Don't Tell the Whole Story
The rankings shift considerably once visitor volume enters the equation. Sequoia and Kings Canyon ranked fourth nationally for total accidental deaths but fifth once adjusted for how many people actually visit, according to the Times-Delta. Yosemite's case is more striking: despite having the most accidental deaths of any park in the country, it actually ranks ninth once visitor numbers are factored in, the outlet reports — a reminder that raw death counts can be misleading when one park draws millions more visitors than another.
The National Park Service maintains its own mortality dashboard, which the agency says helps identify key trends such as leading causes of death, activities that resulted in a death, and populations at greater risk of dying, according to the National Park Service. That data is used to help prioritize safety projects and resources across the park system, the agency notes.
