With the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York announcing that, in March, it will begin charging adults from outside the state $25, art museum ticket prices are very much in the news, and very much a subject of debate. Just how much do American art museums charge, you ask? Below is a snapshot of prices at more than 200 United States institutions, beginning with the pricing and going down from their, to free and suggested admission. (All of these are members of the Association of Art Museum Directors. About 34 percent of the 240 members of the AAMD are free.) A few notes: this list looks only at standard adult ticket price, and does not include discounts for students, military service members, residency, or any other group or reason, such as special free or reduced-admission days or hours. The focus here is admission to the permanent collection: some museums charge more for special exhibitions. (A separate category below lists institutions that are free but charge for such temporary shows.)
$29
The Art Collections at The Huntington, San Marino, California
$25
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Whitney Museum, New York
The Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, New York
Asian Art Museum of San Francisco
Art Institute of Chicago
$24
Shelburne Museum, Vermont
The Dalí Museum, St. Petersburg, Florida
$22
The Frick Collection, New York
$20
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
McNay Art Museum, San Antonio
Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts
The Philadelphia Museum of Art
Morgan Library and Museum, New York
Telfair Museums, Savannah, Georgia
The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts
Honolulu Museum of Art
$19.99
Portland Art Museum, Maine
$19.95
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
$19.50
Corning Museum of Glass, New York
$19
Milwaukee Art Museum
$18
New Museum, New York
Newfields (formerly Indianapolis Museum of Art)
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Hillwood Estate Museum and Gardens, Washington, D.C.
Anchorage Museum
Brandywine River Museum, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania
Phoenix Art Museum
$17
Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida
$16
Museum of Arts and Design, New York
Pérez Art Museum Miami
Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts
$15.95
Oakland Museum of California
$15
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Tacoma Art Museum
Tampa Museum of Art
The Jewish Museum, New York
The Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
The Orlando Museum of Art
Portland Museum of Art
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence, Rhode Island
The San Diego Museum of Art
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Museum of Fine Arts Houston
Newark Museum
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York
Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, New York
The Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire
Dia Art Foundation, New York and Beacon, New York
Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine
George Eastman Museum, Rochester, Maine
Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Memorial Art Gallery at the University of Rochester
The San Antonio Museum of Art
$14.50
High Museum of Art, Atlanta
$14
Detroit Institute of Arts
Columbus Museum of Art
DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, Massachusetts
$13
Denver Art Museum
Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, California
$12.95
Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City
$12.50
Lowe Art Museum, Miami
$12
Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville
Meadows Museum, Dallas
Montclair Art Museum, New Jersey
New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe
Boca Raton Museum of Art, Florida
New Orleans Museum of Art
Columbia Museum of Art, South Carolina (currently $6 while the museum is under renovation)
NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale
Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach (free during 2018 while the museum is under renovation)
Oklahoma City Museum of Art
Palm Springs Art Museum
Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, New York
The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
Speed Art Museum, Louisville
The Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati
$10
Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento
Grand Rapids Art Museum
Henry Art Gallery, Seattle
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
Muscarelle Museum of Art, Williamsburg, Virginia
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
Museum of Latin American Art MOLAA in Long Beach, California
Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
Noguchi Museum, Queens, New York
The Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, California
The Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California (free through January 28, 2018)
Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo
Clyfford Still Museum, Denver
Vero Beach Museum of Art, Florida
Akron Art Museum
Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach
$9.50
Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland
$9
Blanton Museum of Art, Austin
Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa
$8
Michael C. Carlos Museum, Atlanta
Museum of Contemporary Art Denver
Wexner Center, Columbus
$7
Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis
Figge Art Museum, Davenport, Iowa
Flint Institute of Arts, Michigan
Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, New York
Laguna Art Museum, California
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art
Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
The Studio Museum in Harlem
The Wichita Art Museum
$6
Boise Art Museum
$5
Jordan Schnitzer Museum at the University of Oregon, Eugene
Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Michigan
Neuberger Museum of Art of Purchase College, SUNY
Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts
The Contemporary Austin
The Drawing Center, New York
FREE
Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover
Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, Ohio
American Folk Art Museum
Amon Carter, Fort Worth
Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock
Aspen Art Museum
Birmingham Museum of Art
Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine
Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Virginia
CAU Art Galleries at Clark Atlanta University
Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine
Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis
Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati
Contemporary Arts Museum Houston
Des Moines Art Center
El Paso Museum of Art
Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University, Bloomington
Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York
Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis
Freer and Sackler Galleries, Washington, D.C.
The Frick Art & Historical Center, Pittsburgh
Frye Art Museum, Seattle
Georgia Museum of Art, Athens
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca, New York
Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C.
Institute of Contemporary Art Los Angeles
Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia
Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts, Stanford, California
Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn University, Alabama
MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Wisconsin
Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at Washington University, St. Louis
Minneapolis Institute of Art
Missoula Art Museum, Montana
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts
Museum of Contemporary Art, Santa Barbara, California
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
National Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C.
National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.
Palmer Museum of Art, University Park, Pennsylvania
Plains Art Museum, Fargo, North Dakota
Princeton University Art Museum, New Jersey
Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis
Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, Gainesville, Florida
Sheldon Museum of Art, Lincoln, Nebraska
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
Snite Museum of Art, Notre Dame, Indiana
Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas
The Bronx Museum of the Arts
The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Columbus Museum
Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville
The Menil Collection, Houston
The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York
The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore
The Toledo Museum of Art
Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut
Zimmerli Art Museum/Rutgers, New Brunswick, New Jersey
FREE, BUT FEES FOR SOME OR ALL SPECIAL EXHIBITIONS
Baltimore Museum of Art
Crystal Bridges, Bentonville, Arkansas
Broad Art Museum at MSU, East Lansing, Michigan
Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska
Munson-Williams Proctor Arts Institute, Utica New York
North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina
Saint Louis Art Museum
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond
Cincinnati Art Museum
Dallas Museum of Art
Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth
Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson
SUGGESTED ADMISSION
Grey Art Gallery New York University, $5
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, $15
Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta, $3
Seattle Art Museum, $19.95 (fees for special exhibitions)
The Dayton Art Institute, $8 (fees for special exhibitions)
Brooklyn Museum, $16 (fees for special exhibitions)
George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum, Washington, D.C., $8
University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, $10
The Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Greensburg, Pennsylvania, $15
A SPECIAL CASE IN LOS ANGELES
J. Paul Getty Museum, free but parking is $15 per car