Free Camping by State: The 2026 Ranking

Name: Free Camping by State: known dispersed campsites per 1,000 sq mi
Creator: Inglehoff LLC
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Published 2026-11-02 · Data as of 2026-11-11 · By Inglehoff LLC · License: CC BY 4.0

Which states have the most free camping? We counted the known dispersed campsites in each of 50 states and divided by the state’s land area. Each state’s camping rules sit beside its rank, but the rules never change the rank.

Key findings

New York ranks first, with 108.8 known dispersed campsites per 1,000 square miles of land. We have not confirmed the state-land camping rule for 14 of 50 states.

Highest density

#1 New York: 108.8 sites per 1,000 sq mi
#2 Minnesota: 36.3 sites per 1,000 sq mi
#3 Maryland: 25.5 sites per 1,000 sq mi
#4 Utah: 19.8 sites per 1,000 sq mi
#5 Pennsylvania: 19.4 sites per 1,000 sq mi

Lowest density

#46 Louisiana: 1.0 sites per 1,000 sq mi
#46 Rhode Island: 1.0 sites per 1,000 sq mi
#48 Nebraska: 0.9 sites per 1,000 sq mi
#49 Alaska: 0.6 sites per 1,000 sq mi
#49 South Dakota: 0.6 sites per 1,000 sq mi

The full ranking

Select a state for its own page, with its camping rules and a card you can share.

50 states ranked by known dispersed campsites per 1,000 square miles of land
Rank	State	Known dispersed sites	Land area (sq mi)	Sites per 1,000 sq mi	Developed campgrounds	State-land rule	Forest restrictions tracked
1	New York	5,129	47,126	108.8	411	Open by default	0
2	Minnesota	2,894	79,627	36.3	739	Open by default	0
3	Maryland	248	9,707	25.5	204	Permit required	0
4	Utah	1,630	82,170	19.8	2,910	Not confirmed	2
5	Pennsylvania	866	44,743	19.4	311	Marked sites only	0
6	Colorado	1,999	103,642	19.3	1,385	Not confirmed	5
7	Washington	1,133	66,456	17.0	1,040	Open by default	2
8	New Hampshire	123	8,953	13.7	154	Not confirmed	1
9	West Virginia	319	24,038	13.3	362	Not confirmed	0
10	Georgia	730	57,513	12.7	291	Marked sites only	0
11	Arkansas	620	52,035	11.9	334	Marked sites only	0
11	California	1,854	155,779	11.9	2,828	Marked sites only	5
13	Missouri	813	68,742	11.8	434	Marked sites only	0
13	Oregon	1,137	95,988	11.8	1,544	Open by default	1
15	Idaho	960	82,643	11.6	1,619	Not confirmed	0
16	Michigan	636	56,539	11.2	999	Permit required	0
17	North Carolina	498	48,618	10.2	477	Marked sites only	1
18	Tennessee	407	41,235	9.9	386	Permit required	0
19	Virginia	376	39,490	9.5	475	Permit required	0
20	Maine	289	30,843	9.4	1,137	Not confirmed	1
21	Wisconsin	486	54,158	9.0	507	Permit required	0
22	Florida	454	53,625	8.5	514	Marked sites only	1
23	Vermont	77	9,217	8.4	1,560	Not confirmed	0
24	Delaware	14	1,949	7.2	20	Permit required	0
25	Hawaii	40	6,423	6.2	56	Permit required	0
26	Mississippi	287	46,923	6.1	163	Permit required	1
27	Arizona	681	113,594	6.0	649	Not confirmed	0
28	Wyoming	523	97,093	5.4	2,179	Not confirmed	3
29	Connecticut	23	4,842	4.8	44	Not confirmed	0
30	Montana	662	145,546	4.5	1,298	Not confirmed	1
31	Indiana	138	35,826	3.9	283	Marked sites only	0
32	New Jersey	27	7,354	3.7	152	Marked sites only	0
33	Massachusetts	28	7,800	3.6	229	Not confirmed	0
34	Texas	915	261,232	3.5	969	Permit required	0
35	South Carolina	100	30,061	3.3	152	Marked sites only	1
36	Nevada	342	109,781	3.1	866	Federal land only	1
37	Kentucky	105	39,486	2.7	381	Marked sites only	0
38	Alabama	134	50,645	2.6	122	Marked sites only	0
38	Kansas	210	81,759	2.6	128	Marked sites only	0
40	Illinois	139	55,519	2.5	345	Marked sites only	1
41	New Mexico	234	121,298	1.9	2,310	Not confirmed	0
42	Oklahoma	118	68,595	1.7	296	Marked sites only	0
43	Iowa	86	55,857	1.5	260	Marked sites only	0
44	Ohio	56	40,861	1.4	527	Marked sites only	0
45	North Dakota	85	69,001	1.2	93	Open by default	0
46	Louisiana	44	43,204	1.0	106	Federal land only	0
46	Rhode Island	1	1,034	1.0	9	Not confirmed	0
48	Nebraska	71	76,824	0.9	219	Open by default	0
49	Alaska	331	570,641	0.6	673	Open by default	1
49	South Dakota	49	75,811	0.6	197	Federal land only	0

Methodology

The measure. Known dispersed campsites per 1,000 square miles of state land area. A known dispersed campsite is a free, undeveloped site that a public source maps as a point. We divide each state’s count by its land area and multiply by 1,000, to one decimal place.

Land area. The U.S. Census Bureau State Area Measurements table, land area in square miles. Water area is not included.

Ties. States with the same published density share a rank, and the next rank skips (1, 2, 2, 4).

Rules are columns, never inputs. The state-land rule, the number of National Forest restrictions we track and the number of developed campgrounds appear beside each state. None of them changes a rank. The data methodology page names every source we use.

Limits

The count is of sites mapped in public sources. Where more people have mapped sites, the density is higher, so mapping effort affects the result as well as the land.
Roadside camping corridors are not counted. We also remove every point we create ourselves: the points we derive from roads, and the single point we place inside each state wildlife or forest area that allows camping. So every counted site is a mapped site.
“Not confirmed” means we have not verified that state’s state-land camping rule. It does not mean camping is allowed or banned.
A high rank does not mean camping is legal at every site. Check the managing agency’s current orders before you camp.

Cite and download

You can use and share this data under the CC BY 4.0 licence. Credit Inglehoff LLC and link to this page. Suggested citation:

Inglehoff LLC. "Free Camping by State: The 2026 Ranking." Camprtron, data as of 2026-11-11. https://camprtron.com/research/free-camping-by-state. Licensed CC BY 4.0.

The CSV holds one row per state with every column in the table above, plus the data date. It has no per-site rows and no coordinates.

Download the free-camping dataset (CSV, data as of 2026-11-11)