Alcatraz Island is owned by the U.S. federal government , and it is managed by the National Park Service as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

Who owns Alcatraz Island?

  • Legal ownership rests with the United States federal government.
  • Day‑to‑day management is handled by the National Park Service (NPS).
  • The island is included within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, a large protected area around the San Francisco Bay.

In practical terms, that means decisions about the island’s use, preservation, and tourism are made through the Department of the Interior and the NPS, not the City of San Francisco or the State of California.

Current status and use

  • Alcatraz no longer operates as a prison; it closed as a federal penitentiary in 1963.
  • Since the 1970s, it has functioned as a historic site and museum, open to the public via official ferry tours.
  • It draws well over a million visitors a year, making tourism the island’s primary function now.

So when people ask “who owns Alcatraz Island,” the short, accurate answer is: the U.S. government, with the National Park Service in charge of running it as a historic park and museum.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.