SFMOMA Raises Admission to $30, Joining the US’s Most Expensive Museums

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is the latest US institution to raise its admission fees to $30, making it one of the most expensive art museums in the country.

On Wednesday, the museum said it would bring its general admission fees from $25 to $30, its senior tickets from $22 to $25, and its young adult tickets from $19 to $23. Visitors aged 18 or younger will still be allowed to enter SFMOMA for free.

Other museums, like the Guggenheim Museum and the Whitney Museum in New York, as well as the Philadelphia Museum of Art, have recently taken similar measures, claiming that lagging pandemic-era attendance figures and rising operational costs have made the move necessary.

SFMOMA, in its announcement on Wednesday, said something similar, citing “decreased attendance figures, slow citywide recovery in the downtown core, inflation and other rising costs.”

The museum reported that general admission and membership revenue accounts for 22 percent of its operating budget, and that attendance in 2023 is down 65 percent compared to 2019. It was not clear, however, whether that figure accounted for the fact that there are still more than four months left in 2023.

SFMOMA director Christopher Bedford said in a statement, “In making these changes, as both SFMOMA and our city continue to emerge from the pandemic, we have also committed ourselves to maintaining our free and discounted programs and to exploring new opportunities that will encourage the full spectrum of our community to experience the museum.”

Pre-pandemic numbers suggested that, on average, admission fees contribute just 7 percent to institutions’ annual revenue, according to an Association of Art Museum Directors report. According to SFMOMA’s 2022 tax forms, admission fees accounted for roughly 11 percent of its annual revenue.

SFMOMA’s admission fees are still a cut below those of the Art Institute of Chicago, which charges $32 for a general admission ticket.