How Crowded Is The White House and President's Park in October?

October runs about 1.6× The White House and President's Park's average month, which makes it a very busy month here — roughly 13% of the park's yearly visitors come in October.

In a typical October the park sees about 72,000 recreation visits, based on National Park Service monthly counts from 1979 to 2025.

That makes October the 2nd-busiest of the park's twelve months, sitting between the April peak (1.9×) and the January low (0.3×).

On our Best Time to Visit score October rates 22/100 ("Poor"), versus the top-rated January at 78/100 — the best overall balance of crowds and daylight.

Because June, July and August together draw about 24% of annual visitors, choosing October instead steps outside that summer crush — the single biggest lever on how crowded the park feels.

You'll have about 11 hours of daylight in October to explore — between the 9.3-hour midwinter low and the 14.7-hour summer high.

Park-wide, 2024 drew 517,030 recreation visits, down 6.6% from 553,665 in 2023.

Across the past decade overall visitation has eased about 16.5%, so October may feel a touch quieter than it once did.