There are a total of  8,565 state parks in the United States covering 18 million acres of land. State parks saw 807 million visitors in 2017.  The total amount of money spent on state parks in fiscal year 2017 was $6.5 billion, but state parks and recreation spending averages only 0.156 percent of the state budgets.

New York spends the most on parks and recreation followed by California. New York’s spending is 448 percent higher than the 50-state average. As of 2017, New York has 215 state parks and historic sites encompassing 350,000 acres. The state spent $713 million in 2017, which equals out to more than $2,000 dollars an acre.