The Metropolitan Museum of Art has officially become the most expensive museum in the city for out-of-towners. On July 1, adult admission increased from $25 to $30, with student and senior tickets increasing $5 as well, respectively to $17 and $22.
This change effects both the Met Fifth Avenue as well as the Met Cloisters. New York residents, as well as students from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, are still offered the pay-what-you-wish option, as long as a valid ID is presented.
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The last time the Met changed its admission policy was in 2018, when the museum decided to no longer offer the pay-what-you-wish option to everyone, instead limiting it to residents of New York. The word “suggested” was removed from the entry fee and visitors from out of state were now forced to pay the full $25 admission.
In a statement made at the time by President and CEO Daniel H. Weiss, he said that visitors paying the full suggested amount had declined by 73% in the last 13 years, and that this was a necessary change to keep the museum “…both a world-class center of excellence and a source of community pride.”
The Met’s pricing had been similar to another popular attraction on Museum Mile. The Guggenheim’s cost of admission is $25, with the exception of the pay-what-you-wish evenings on Saturdays from 6-8pm. Other museums in Manhattan are priced at $25 or less; the Museum of Natural History charges $23 for general admission, while also offering NY residents pay-what-you-wish daily; the Museum of Modern Art charges $25 with free admission on Friday evenings from 4-8; and the Whitney Museum charges $25 for general admission.
The price had remained $25 since the last increase in 2011, when the cost of suggested admission was raised from $20-$25.
“For out of state residents, the Museum is always seeking a balance between ensuring we are providing as wide access as possible, and generating critical support for our programming,” a museum spokesperson told NY1, calling its most recent price change a “… modest increase for out of state and international visitors, for the first time in 11 years.”
