National Register of Historic Places Map: Explore 100,000+ US Historic Sites

This interactive map displays every property listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), the official list of the United States’ historic places worthy of preservation. Data comes from the National Park Service and covers buildings, districts, sites, structures, and objects across all 50 states, Washington DC, and US territories. National Historic Landmarks — the most significant properties — are highlighted in gold. Use the Type filter to focus on a specific resource category, and the Zoom to dropdown to navigate to any US region.

How to Use This Map

Filtering by Resource Type

Use the Type dropdown to filter the map to a specific category of historic resource. Options appear automatically as data loads for your current map view. Select Buildings, Districts, Sites, Structures, or Objects to focus on that resource type. Choose National Landmarks Only to display only the approximately 2,600 properties designated as National Historic Landmarks.

Zooming to a Region

Use the Zoom to dropdown to jump directly to any US region including New England, the Mid-Atlantic, the Southeast, the Midwest, the Southwest, California, Alaska, and Hawaii. You can also pan and zoom freely across the entire country.

Reading the Legend

The legend builds dynamically as new resource types appear in the loaded data. National Historic Landmarks are always shown in gold with a larger dot. Other resource types are assigned distinct colors automatically.

Clicking a Place

Click any dot to open a popup showing the property name, resource type, city and state, the date it was listed on the National Register, and a direct link to its official NPS record for full documentation.

What Is the National Register of Historic Places?

The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the nation’s historic places worthy of preservation, established by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. Administered by the National Park Service, the Register recognizes properties of significance in American history, architecture, archaeology, engineering, and culture. Listing on the National Register provides recognition and makes property owners eligible for federal historic preservation tax incentives.

Properties are nominated by State Historic Preservation Offices, federal agencies, and tribal preservation officers, and evaluated against established criteria for significance and integrity. As of 2025 the Register includes over 100,000 individual listings representing more than 1.9 million contributing resources.

Resource Types on the National Register

Every property on the National Register is classified into one of five resource types:

• Buildings – Structures created to shelter human activity, including houses, barns, churches, hotels, courthouses, and commercial buildings. Buildings are the most common resource type on the Register.
• Districts – A geographically definable area with a significant concentration of buildings, structures, sites, spaces, or objects that together convey a sense of time and place. Historic districts may contain hundreds or thousands of individual contributing resources.
• Sites – Locations associated with a significant event, activity, or person, or that exhibit other cultural or natural values. Sites include battlefields, cemeteries, shipwrecks, rock art locations, and archaeological sites.
• Structures – Functional constructions made for purposes other than creating human shelter, including bridges, dams, lighthouses, railroads, and earthworks.
• Objects – Material things of functional, cultural, aesthetic, or scientific value that may be, by nature or design, movable. Objects include monuments, sculptures, and boundary markers.

National Historic Landmarks

National Historic Landmarks (NHLs) are a subset of National Register properties that the Secretary of the Interior has determined to possess exceptional value or quality in illustrating or interpreting the heritage of the United States. There are approximately 2,600 NHLs — less than 3% of all National Register listings. They include places like Independence Hall, Monticello, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the Apollo Mission Control Center. On this map, NHLs are shown as larger gold dots so they stand out from the surrounding properties.

Data Source

Property data is sourced from the National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, distributed as a National Geospatial Data Asset (NGDA) federal dataset. The data is updated weekly from the NPS National Register Information System (NRIS). Each popup includes a direct link to the property’s official NPS record for full nomination documentation, photographs, and mapping.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does listing on the National Register protect a property from demolition?

Not directly. National Register listing is an honorary designation and does not prevent owners from altering or demolishing their property using private funds. However, it does trigger a review process for federally funded or licensed undertakings, and many states and localities have additional protections for listed properties.

How do I nominate a property to the National Register?

Nominations are submitted to the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) in the state where the property is located. The SHPO evaluates the nomination against National Register criteria and, if approved, forwards it to the National Park Service for final listing. The process typically takes one to three years.

What is the difference between a National Historic Landmark and a National Register listing?

All National Historic Landmarks are automatically listed on the National Register, but not all National Register properties are NHLs. NHL designation is a higher tier of recognition reserved for properties of exceptional national significance, whereas National Register listing encompasses a broader range of properties significant at the national, state, or local level.

Why do some areas have many more listings than others?

The density of listings reflects both the age of settlement and the resources invested in historic preservation. New England and the Mid-Atlantic states, settled earliest by European colonists, have very high concentrations of listed properties. Western states have fewer but often include important archaeological sites, mission complexes, and early twentieth century properties.

Can I visit all properties on the National Register?

Many listed properties are open to the public, including museums, parks, and government buildings. However, a large number are privately owned and not open for public access. Click any property on the map for a link to its NPS record, which often includes visiting information where applicable.