US Hot Springs by the Numbers
330 public directory records across 14 states — 303 of them currently recommended soaking destinations — counted, measured, and checked against land-manager sources. Every figure below is computed from the live directory dataset. Free to cite with attribution.
The US has 1,661 documented hydrothermal features (NOAA/USGS national inventory, 1980 — now archived), but only a few hundred are soakable. HotSpringsFind indexes 330 public records in 14 states — 303 of them currently soakable; 45% are free, 39 documented closures are tracked, and 291 records are verified against official or operator sources.
Hot Springs by State
Per-state counts: "soakable" = currently recommended destinations, "in directory" = all public indexable records (including status-flagged), "records" = everything we document including restricted. Click a column header to sort; click a state for its full directory.
| State ↕ | Soakable ↕ | In directory ▼ | Records ↕ | Free ↕ | Primitive | Resorts | Hottest soak ↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | 65 | 71 | 88 | 26 | 32 | 31 | 115°F |
| Idaho | 62 | 64 | 66 | 36 | 37 | 20 | 117°F |
| Nevada | 28 | 32 | 52 | 25 | 23 | 3 | 110°F |
| Oregon | 28 | 30 | 35 | 11 | 14 | 12 | 110°F |
| Montana | 23 | 24 | 27 | 2 | 1 | 17 | 115°F |
| Colorado | 18 | 19 | 21 | 6 | 6 | 12 | 106°F |
| Alaska | 16 | 17 | 23 | 12 | 9 | 2 | 117°F |
| New Mexico | 15 | 16 | 18 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 110°F |
| Utah | 15 | 15 | 16 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 110°F |
| Arizona | 9 | 13 | 14 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 118°F |
| Washington | 10 | 12 | 17 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 110°F |
| Wyoming | 10 | 12 | 14 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 112°F |
| Arkansas | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 102°F |
| Texas | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 108°F |
The Record Book
Extremes of the cataloged dataset — each name links to its full record with access notes.
Reported Soak Temperatures
314 of 396 records carry a reported soaking temperature. Most pools cluster in the ideal 98–104°F soaking range.
Access & Fees
| Free to access | 147 destinations (45%) — mostly primitive springs on public BLM / National Forest land |
|---|---|
| Primitive / backcountry | 174 records — undeveloped natural pools, no facilities |
| Commercial resorts | 132 records — developed pools, lodging and amenities |
| Developed public sites | 40 records — managed public soaking sites |
| Private land records | 50 records — permission or booking required |
| Roadside access | 182 destinations reachable without a trail hike |
| Dog-friendly | 99 destinations where dogs are permitted nearby (never in the water) |
| Clothing-optional | 140 destinations listed as traditionally clothing-optional |
| Year-round access | 313 records with no seasonal closure on file; 32 verified seasonal |
Verification & Status Research
Every record passes a two-stage review. 396 records carry decomposed status research (spring, road, access, soaking, water, crowd) with named sources; 291 of those are verified against an official agency or the site operator. Read the methodology →
| Official source verified | 156 records (USFS, BLM, NPS, state agencies) |
|---|---|
| Operator verified | 135 records (resort & site-manager pages) |
| Community reported | 86 records (recent visitor trip reports) |
| Documented closures | 39 sites — tracked in the closure tracker |
| Seasonal operations | 32 verified springs with part-year access |
Cite This Data
Everything on this page is free to reuse in articles, research, and reports under CC BY 4.0 — the only requirement is a link back to this page. Journalists: the full dataset index is available as JSON.
"US hot springs statistics" — HotSpringsFind.com directory data, accessed 2026-09-21. https://hotspringsfind.com/hot-springs-statistics<a href="https://hotspringsfind.com/hot-springs-statistics">US hot springs statistics — HotSpringsFind.com</a>