The American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA, www.aza.org) reports that combined annual attendance for all 214 AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums in the United States is 175 million.
Two million households in America, some five million people, are zoo or aquarium members, collectively providing over $96 million in support.
More than nine million students visit and enjoy on-site education programs at zoos and aquariums each year; over 3.5 million attend them free of charge.
About 80% of visitors to zoos live in the zoo’s home market and 20% are tourists, according to the AZA. Aquariums experience the opposite visitor ratio; approximately 80% of visitors are tourists and 20% live in the aquariums’s home market. There are notable exceptions to these ratios. The Memphis Zoo, which averages about 950,000 visitors each year, found in 2013 that 67% of zoo visitors came from outside the Memphis area.
ZOOS & AQUARIUMS in USA Photo Gallery
70.2 Most-Visited Zoos and Aquariums
The following are the largest U.S. zoos, based on annual San Diego Zoo (San Diego, CA; www.sandiegozoo.org): Lincoln Park Zoo (Chicago, IL; www.lpzoo.org):
Saint Louis Zoo (St. Louis, MO; www.stlzoo.org): Smithsonian National Zoological Park (Washington, DC; http://nationalzoo.si.edu):
Bronx Zoo (New York, NY; www.bronxzoo.com):
Brookfield Zoo (Brookfield, IL; www.brookfieldzoo.org): Denver Zoo (Denver, CO; www.denverzoo.org):
Los Angeles Zoo (Los Angeles, CA; www.lazoo.org): Columbus Zoo (Columbus, OH; www.columbuszoo.org): Houston Zoo (Houston, TX; www.houstonzoo.org): Cleveland Metroparks Zoo (Cleveland, OH; www.clevelandmetroparks.com/zoo):
Georgia Aquarium (Atlanta; www.georgiaaquarium.org): 2.0 million
Monterey Bay Aquarium (Monterey, CA;
www.montereybayaquarium.org): 1.8 million
John G. Shedd Aquarium (Chicago, IL; www.sheddaquarium.org): 1.7 million
National Aquarium in Baltimore (Baltimore, MD; www.aqua.org): 1.6 million
New England Aquarium (Boston, MA; www.neaq.org): 1.3 million
Aquarium of the Pacific (Long Beach; www.aquariumofpacific.org): 1.1 million
Tennessee Aquarium (Chattanooga; www.tnaqua.org): 1.1 million
Downtown Aquarium (Denver, CO; www.aquariumrestaurants.com): 1.0 million
Aquarium of the Americas (New Orleans;
www.auduboninstitute.org/visit/aquarium): 1.0 million
Newport Aquarium (Newport, KY; www.newportaquarium.com): 1.0 million
Mystic Aquarium (Mystic, CT; www.mysticaquarium.org): 1.0 million
The 2016 Readers Choice Awards poll by 10Best (www.10best.com), a USA Today travel site, ranked the Best Zoos as follows:
1. Toledo Zoo (Toledo, OH)
2. St. Louis Zoo (St. Louis, MO)
3. Cincinnati Zoo (Cincinnati, OH)
4. Memphis Zoo (Memphis, TN)
5. Columbus Zoo (Columbus, OH)
6. Henry Doorly Zoo (Omaha, NE)
7. Houston Zoo (Houston, TX)
8. Brookfield Zoo (Chicago, IL)
9. Dallas Zoo (Dallas, TX)
10. San Diego Zoo & Safari Park (San Diego, CA)
The Best Aquariums were ranked as follows:
1. Georgia Aquarium (Atlanta, GA)
2. Texas State Aquarium (Corpus Christi, TX)
3. Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies (Gatlinburg, TN)
4. Shedd Aquarium (Chicago, IL)
5. Tennessee Aquarium (Chattanooga, TN)
6. Monterey Bay Aquarium (Monterey, CA)
7. Vancouver Aquarium (Vancouver, BC, Canada)
8. Mystic Aquarium (Mystic, CT)
9. Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium (Omaha, NE)
10. National Aquarium (Baltimore, MD)
70.3 Accredited Zoos and Aquariums
The following links to a list of zoos and aquariums accredited by the AZA: www.rkma.com/travel.ZoosAquariums.pdf.
70.4 Market Resources
American Zoo and Aquarium Association, 8403 Colesville Road, Suite 760, Silver Spring, MD 20910. (301) 562-0777. (www.aza.org)
