How to Get Into Museums for Free or at a Big Discount

Museums are a great way to entertain you and your family while also learning something. Unfortunately, some museums have drifted from their non-profit missions and are now charging hefty prices for entry.  Museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York that used to have suggested admission now charge $30 per person. Fortunately, there are multiple ways to get into a museum for free or at a big discount.

Heuristic for Saving Money at Museums

1. Check if the museum is a member of an association or network of museums
2. See if you have any reciprocal museum memberships
3. Reference Bank of America’s list of free museums, the first Saturday of each month at many museums
4. Visit your library’s website and see if they have free tickets
5. Check the museum’s calendar for free days
6. See if you are part of a group or employer that has free/discounted entry including children, SNAP recipients, seniors, members of the military, and educators
7. Buy a membership if the math works
8. Visit museums that are always free

Museum Associations and Networks

I was recently at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, NJ. It is a great museum for kids and has a really cool spherical theater/planetarium. Tickets for two adults and two children would have cost us $114. Fortunately we are members of the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum which is a member of the Association of Science and Technology Centers. As a result, I was able to go to the ticket booth, show them my Natural History Museum membership card and get free entry for all four of us!

Museums are often part of consortiums or groups of affiliated museums. If you are a member in one museum you can often get free access to all other museums in the consortium. Some museums have 90 mile restrictions meaning you can use the reciprocal free access in another city outside of your home address, but not in a museum that is located in the same city. Special exhibits with separate tickets are also usually excluded from reciprocal benefits. See the list of consortiums below. 

Art Museums

• Art Museum Reciprocal Network
  • Get free access to any museum in the network with one membership. Includes great museums such as the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Frick Collection.

Botanical Gardens

• American Horticulture Society
  • Get free access to any garden in the association if you have a membership in one garden.
  • Some gardens have a 90-mile restriction.

Children’s Museums

• Association of Children’s Museums, ACM Reciprocal Network
  • Get 50% off up to 6 people if you have a membership in one member museum.

General Museums

• Museum Alliance Reciprocal Program
• North American Reciprocal Museum Association
• Reciprocal Organization of Associated Museums
  • For all of the organizations above, get free access to any museum in the association if you have a membership in one member museum. These tend to be smaller museums.

Science & Technology Museums

• Association of Science and Technology Centers
  • Get free access to any museum in the association if you have a membership in one museum.
  • Some museums have a 90 mile restriction.

Zoos

• Association of Zoos and Aquariums
  • 50-100% off zoos and aquariums if you have a membership in one zoo/aquarium.

Other

• American Alliance of Museums
• International Council of Museums
  • Technically the two organizations above do not confer any membership to museums, but some major museums give you free access to the museum by presenting your card.
• Cultivist
  • This is an extremely expensive membership that starts at $440 a person, but it does get you priority access to 80+ museums around the world and a slew of other benefits geared towards art collectors and enthusiasts.

Reciprocal Memberships

Some of the largest museums don’t participate in any networks or associations, but have their own list of reciprocal museums you get free entry to as a member of their museum.

List of museums with major partnership networks, note many require membership above a certain level for reciprocity.

• Philadelphia Museum of Art
• The Art Institute of Chicago
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art

A few major museums do not have partnerships

• Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, Huntington Gardens in Pasadena, MOMA in New York, Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, the San Diego Zoo (there is one exception for South Dakota)

Bank of America (BOFA)

BOFA card holders get free entry the first Saturday of each month. You receive one free general admission per individual card holder. If you have a checking account with BOFA you can always add your partner as a joint account holder to get a second card. See the list of participating museums here. In Los Angeles the Skirball and Autry museum are both great. The Autry Museum of the American West has really unique exhibits on western history that people like myself who grew up on the east coast or elsewhere simply didn’t learn about as a child.

The Library

Libraries never cease to amaze me with the number of free and great services they provide. You can add free or extremely discounted tickets to local museums, zoos, gardens and aquariums to the list of things for which you can thank your local library. When I checked out the Los Angeles library’s offerings below many offers were already taken or for far out dates, but it is worth checking your local site. New tickets are usually posted on the first of the month so put a reminder on your calendar.

Boston Chicago Dallas Denver Los Angeles Miami New York  San Diego San Francisco Seattle

Free Days

Museums almost always have a day with free entry. Usually it is at a time on weekdays that isn’t great if you work full time, but if it works for your schedule, it can be a great way to save on admission.

Free/discounted tickets for locals, children, military personnel, educators, and seniors

Some museums including the aforementioned Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (MET) have free or extremely discounted tickets for locals. In the MET’s case they have suggested admission for New York, New Jersey, & Connecticut residents. As an aside, the MET Cloisters is seldom visited, but is worth the trip uptown in New York. It is really cool. The Detroit Institute of Arts has free admission for Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties.

Many museums with the usual exception of children’s museums, have free entry for children under 12 and discounts for military personnel, first responders, and seniors. Active military personnel can get free access to over 2,000 museums via the Blue Star museums program.

Partnerships

Museums have partnerships with companies and associations that provide discounted or free entry. For example, Huntington Gardens has free admission for corporate partner employees and one guest with proof of employment. The National Education Association offers discounts on various museums. AAA and Tickets at Work may also have discount offers.

SNAP holders

Many museums will provide free or extremely discounted entry for SNAP ( Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) holders. I think this makes a ton of sense as it gives access to museums to people who couldn’t afford it otherwise. SNAP holders usually just have to present their SNAP cards at the ticket desk to get the free/discounted tickets. A list of participating museums can be found here.

Membership

Museums offer membership packages that usually pay for themselves after 2-3 visits. We have a membership to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach and use it frequently. 

Typically memberships are also considered donations and can be deducted. As a result of the new tax bill, starting in 2026, if you itemize you can only deduct charitable contributions over .5% of your Adjusted Gross Income, however if like 90%-91% of the population you take the standard deduction and do not itemize, you can now take an above the line deduction of $1k if you are single or $2k for couples filing jointly.

Museums That Are Always Free

Many museums have permanent free general admission, but usually charge for special exhibits. I have included Los Angeles and New York on the list, but will add more overtime.

• Los Angeles
  • California Science Center, The Broad, Fowler Museum, The Getty and Getty Villa, Giffith Observatory, Hammer Museum
• New York
  • Pay what you wish if you live in CT, NY, or NJ
    • American Museum of Natural History, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of the City of New York

Make A Donation

If you end up getting into a museum for free and still want to support the museum you can usually make a tax-deductible donation. This is more of a win/win situation than buying entry as the museum still gets the money and you benefit from a tax donation, whereas admission is usually not tax deductible.