Hot springs in the United States
779 thermal features catalogued across 32 states · 332 with detail pages
Our hot-springs index covers 779 thermal features — hot springs, warm springs, geysers, and boiling springs — sourced from the U.S. Geological Survey's Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). Coverage is heavily concentrated in the Rocky Mountain, Great Basin, and Cascades regions: Wyoming, Nevada, Idaho, California, Oregon, and Colorado together hold over 75% of the catalogue. East-coast states have very few thermal features by geology; Hot Springs National Park (Arkansas) is the famous exception.
GNIS catalogs the geographic feature, not its access status. Many of these are on federal land (NPS, Forest Service, BLM); some are on state land; some are private resorts; some are wild and undeveloped. Always verify access and soaking rules with the relevant land manager before visiting. In NPS units (Yellowstone in particular), soaking is prohibited and leaving the boardwalk is illegal.
Top states by hot-spring count
| State | Total catalogued | With detail page |
|---|---|---|
| Wyoming | 155 | 119 |
| Nevada | 148 | 29 |
| Idaho | 95 | 30 |
| California | 76 | 45 |
| Oregon | 61 | 18 |
| Colorado | 44 | 11 |
| Arizona | 36 | 15 |
| New Mexico | 27 | 7 |
| Utah | 24 | 7 |
| Montana | 20 | 9 |
| Alaska | 18 | 0 |
| Texas | 13 | 5 |
| Washington | 10 | 8 |
| Tennessee | 7 | 6 |
| Kentucky | 6 | 5 |
Browse by state
Click any state to see all hot springs in our database for that state, plus which cities they're reachable from. Empty cells mean no thermal features were catalogued in our source data — mostly the eastern Plains and Great Lakes regions.
Top cities for hot-springs trips
Cities with the most hot springs within a 75-mile drive. Useful for planning a soaking-focused weekend.
Boise
Drive-time and access notes for hot springs reachable from Boise.
Bozeman
Drive-time and access notes for hot springs reachable from Bozeman.
Reno
Drive-time and access notes for hot springs reachable from Reno.
Las Vegas
Drive-time and access notes for hot springs reachable from Las Vegas.
Colorado Springs
Drive-time and access notes for hot springs reachable from Colorado Springs.
Riverside
Drive-time and access notes for hot springs reachable from Riverside.
Portland
Drive-time and access notes for hot springs reachable from Portland.
Albuquerque
Drive-time and access notes for hot springs reachable from Albuquerque.
What's in a RoamFound hot-spring page
Each hot-spring page shows the practical stuff — type (hot spring / warm spring / geyser / boiling spring), state, county, GNIS feature ID, coordinates, nearest documented metro with drive-time, NPS-unit affiliation if applicable, and a clear safety & access block. Where the feature is inside a National Park or other federal unit, we link to the relevant land-manager page directly.
We do not currently surface temperature, pool dimensions, or soaking pH — these aren't in GNIS. Where Wikipedia or Forest Service data fills in those details, we'll layer it in. For now, treat each page as a starting point for verifying with the land manager before you drive in.
Coming next
The first hot-springs pass uses GNIS as the spine. Subsequent passes will integrate:
- OpenStreetMap (
natural=hot_spring) — adds developed-resort vs wild distinction, photos via Wikidata, and operator metadata where contributors have logged it. - Wikipedia summaries — for the named famous ones (Hot Springs NP, Yellowstone geysers, Mammoth Hot Springs, Hot Creek, etc.).
- U.S. Forest Service ranger districts — for hot springs in national forests, which is most of the wild ones in the West.
- Bureau of Land Management — for Nevada, Oregon, and Idaho hot springs on BLM land.
Subscribers to the launch list (homepage) get notified as enrichment lands.