Parks and recreation spending trends in three mountain states

Three states that are known in the United States for their mountainous, green and lush environments that make up their world-class state parks are Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. In addition to thousands of miles of mountain ranges, these states have have rivers, lakes, deserts and more. Each summer, Americans vacation to these places seeking to experience some of the country’s most beautiful and preserved landscapes. But in order to keep the people coming, these states need to spend more than the average amount of money on their parks and recreation.

Using Truth in Accounting’s State Data Lab, I pulled up the parks and recreation expenditures for each state from 1998-2017. Parks and recreation expenditures refers to the total amount spent by the state on parks and recreation, given in millions in the chart below. According to State Date lab, the parks and recreation expenditures per capita is calculated as the amount spent on parks and recreation divided by the state population in the given year.

In addition to the expenditures, it is interesting to look into the parks and recreation percentages. The parks and recreation expenditures percentage is calculated as the amount spent on parks and recreation divided by total government expenditures.

In both charts, Arizona’s expenditures spiked in 2005. According to knau.org, Arizona’s public radio station website, major wildfires caused by persistent drought contributed to Arizona making the list of one of the most at-risk states for natural disasters during this time. The reason why it is so important for Arizona to attract people to their outdoor recreation is because it generates tons of revenue for the state. According to outdoorindustry.org, the outdoor recreation economy generates 7.6 million american jobs $887 billion in consumer spending annually, $65.3 billion in federal tax revenue, and $59.2 billion in state and local tax revenue. Without visitors, these states would have a difficult time taking care of their national parks.

Georgia Evans is a social media and analytics intern for Truth in Accounting, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Chicago that researches government financial data.