Travel + Leisure – “the top travel media brand in the world” – has declared Wyoming the best state in the nation for camping.
To reach this conclusion, the company analyzed ten factors to score each state using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, National Park Service, the CDC, AAA Gas prices, the National Climatic Data Center, and more. Those factors included the number of national parks and landmarks relative to the state area, a state’s available hiking trails, campsites relative to the state population, and the diversity of plants and animals.
Other factors included each state’s average yearly rainfall and current fuel costs.
Based on these merits, Wyoming scored 72.12 out of 100, the highest of all 50 states. Significant factors in the score include Wyoming having the highest number of R.V. parks and paid or free campsites out of every state relative to the state’s population. Wyoming also has the third-highest number of hiking trails of any state.
Montana came in second, with the highest number of hiking trails nationwide and the second-highest number of free and paid campsites. New Mexico ranked third, mainly due to its incredible biodiversity, with over 4,500 species of plants and animals.
Wyoming Outdoor Recreation and the Park County Outdoor Recreation Collaborative have celebrated the first-place ranking. However, many Wyomingites may greet this news with some dread, thinking it will inspire more people to relocate permanently.
This will add more allure to Cody and northwest Wyoming. So far in 2023, Cody has been declared the Best Western Small Town and the sixth Best Small Town by USA Today Readers’ Choice 10-best, with the ninth-best history museum (Buffalo Bill Center of the West) and one of the best state parks for camping and RVing (Buffalo Bill State Park.)
Hot Springs State Park in Thermopolis ranked second on the USA Today Readers’ Choice 10-Best list for Best Hot Springs.
