Amid rollbacks in federal arts funding and sweeping layoffs at cultural institutions across the United States, visitor attendance appears to remain on a steady incline at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Manhattan museum announced yesterday, July 21, that more than 5.7 million attendees visited its two locations — The Met Fifth Ave and The Cloisters — during the 2025 fiscal year, which ended on June 30. While the visitor rates do not surpass The Met’s 2019 attendance record of over 7 million guests, the data indicates a 5% increase in turnout from last year, when the institution welcomed 5.5 million people.
The figures also included a new peak in single-day attendance at the museum since 2017, courtesy of the public reopening of the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing on May 31. The sole event brought in 33,700 people, according to an attendance report. The museum also cited ongoing shows, like Sargent and Paris and Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, for its strong turnout; the two exhibitions each brought in more than 427,000 and 291,000 guests, respectively.
The newly released statistics show that The Met is continuing to bounce back from dips in attendance attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, the museum was the first institution in New York City to close to the public indefinitely to prevent the spread of the virus. The museum has since raised admission prices by $5 for out-of-state adults, although its “pay-what-you-wish” policy has remained in place for New York state residents and tri-state region students.
According to the institution, attendance from New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey represented a 109% recovery rate since the pandemic. Local attendance accounted for 62% of all visitors, whereas domestic out-of-state attendees made up just under a quarter.
International attendance, however, continued to lag at the museum. A Met spokesperson told Hyperallergic that global visitors accounted for 15% of its total attendance for the past fiscal year. This is slightly lower than last year, when foreign guests accounted for 16% of its total visitorship, about half of what it was before the pandemic.
Credit: hyperallergic
