List of most-visited museums in the United States

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Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) - Central Park, NYC.jpg
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
National Museum of Natural History, Washington D.C. Smithsonian-Museum of Natural History.jpg
National Museum of Natural History, Washington D.C.
National Gallery of Art, East Building, Washington DC East Building of the National Gallery of Art, 2019.jpg
National Gallery of Art, East Building, Washington DC
Museum of Modern Art, New York City MoMa NY USA 1.jpg
Museum of Modern Art, New York City
National Museum of American History, Washington D.C. National Museum of American History 1.jpg
National Museum of American History, Washington D.C.

This is a list of the most-visited museums in the United States in 2023 and 2022. It is based upon the statistics of the Smithsonian Institution Newsroom (January 2024) and the annual survey of museum attendance by the Art Newspaper published in March 2023 and 2024.

The figures in this survey show the diminishing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which had caused all of the museums on the list to be closed for long periods of time, and which greatly reduced tourism to the United States. Attendance at the museums listed in the TEA-AECOM Museum Index published in 2023 showed an increase of 70 percent over 2022 levels, but was still only 60 percent of pre-COVID attendance. [1]

RankMuseumLocationVisitorsYear
(1) Metropolitan Museum of Art New York City 5,364,0002023 [1]
(2) American Museum of Natural History New York City 5,000,0002023 [2]
(3) National Museum of Natural History Washington, D.C. 4,400,0002023 [2]
(4) National Gallery of Art Washington, D.C. 3,829,8122023 [1]
(5) National Air and Space Museum (with Udvar-Hazy Center) Washington, D.C. 3,100,0002023 [2]
(6) Museum of Modern Art New York City 2,839,5092023 [1]
(7) National 9/11 Museum New York City 2,265,0002023 [1]
(8) National Museum of American History Washington, D.C. 2,100,0002023 [2]
(9) Houston Museum of Natural Science Houston 1,800,0002023 [1]
(10) California Science Center Los Angeles 1,700,0002023 [1]
(11) National Museum of African American History and Culture Washington, D.C. 1,600,0002023 [2]
(12) Griffin Museum of Science and Industry Chicago 1,476,0002023 [1]
(13) Smithsonian American Art Museum (with Renwick Gallery) Washington, D.C. 1,400,0002023 [2]
(14) Art Institute of Chicago Chicago 1,300,0002023 [3]
(15) Getty Center Los Angeles 1,251,1342023 [1]
(16) Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
(with George C. Page Museum at La Brea Tar Pits
and William S. Hart Museum)		 Los Angeles 1,200,0002023 [4]
(17) National Portrait Gallery Washington, D.C. 1,166,1292023 [1]
(18) Denver Museum of Nature and Science Denver 1,151,0002022 [1]
(19) Museum of Science Boston 1,123,0002022 [1]
(20) Huntington Library San Marino, California 1,041,8812022 [5]
(21) Field Museum of Natural History Chicago 1,018,0022022 [6] [1]
(22) De Young Museum San Francisco 999,6452023 [1]
(23) Houston Museum of Fine Arts Houston 999,5142023 [1]
(24) California Academy of Sciences San Francisco 966,0002022 [7]
(25) Museum of Fine Arts Boston 952,2902023 [1]
(26) Los Angeles County Museum of Art Los Angeles 902,2372023 [1]
(27) The Broad Los Angeles 895,9492023 [1]
(28) Solomon Guggenheim Museum New York City 861,3742023 [1]
(29) Perot Museum of Nature and Science Dallas 849,3292023 [8]
(30) Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art Bentonville, Arkansas 784,9712023 [1]
(31) Whitney Museum of American Art New York City 768,0002023 [1]
(32) Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park Grand Rapids, Michigan 760,6672023 [1]
(33) Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Washington, D.C. 714,6842023 [2]
(34) National Museum of the American Indian Washington, D.C. 704,0742023 [2]
(35) Cleveland Museum of Art Cleveland 685,3362023 [1]
(36) Denver Art Museum Denver 656,3422022 [5]
(37) North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences Raleigh, North Carolina 617,3752022 [9]
(38) Minneapolis Institute of Art Minneapolis 591,0692022 [10]
(39) Milwaukee Public Museum Milwaukee 549,6702023 [11]
(40) The Museum of Flight Seattle 445,5382023 [12]
(41) Pacific Science Center Seattle 410,0002022 [13]
(42) Fernbank Museum of Natural History Atlanta 408,0002023 [14]

See also

Notes and citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 "The 100 most popular art museums in the world—blockbusters, bots and bounce-backs". The Art Newspaper - International art news and events. 2024-03-26. Retrieved 2024-03-26.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Smithsonian Institution Newsdesk Visitor Stats, retrieved December 26, 2024.
  3. ↑ New York Times, March 21, 2024
  4. ↑ Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM) (December 19, 2023). "Thank You | Our Year in Review | 2023 #nhmla #losangeles". YouTube.
  5. 1 2 "The Art Newspaper, March 28, 2023
  6. ↑ TEA-AECOM Museum Index, published June, 2023
  7. ↑ TEA-AECOM Museum Index, published June 23, 2023
  8. ↑ Perot Museum of Nature and Science Impact Report, October 1, 2002 - September 30, 2023.
  9. ↑ North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences Annual Report FY 2021-2022.
  10. ↑ Minneapolis Star-Tribune, December 30, 2022
  11. ↑ Milwaukee Public Museum Annual Report 2022/23.
  12. ↑ The Museum of Flight. "The Museum of Flight Annual Report 2024".
  13. ↑ Pacific Science Center Annual Report, 2023
  14. ↑ Fernbank Museum Impact Report, 2023.
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