13 New York institutions with verified free admission — 3 always free, 10 with scheduled free days. New York's free-museum system runs on residency: the Met and the American Museum of Natural History are pay-what-you-wish every day for New York State residents (any amount counts), and MoMA adds free Friday evenings for NY residents. The famous "free Wednesday" at the Bronx Zoo, though, is history — it's now limited reduced admission.
| Institution | Free day | Who qualifies | Reservation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brooklyn Museum | Pay-what-you-wish daily | Everyone | Required |
| Queens Museum | Pay-what-you-wish daily | Everyone | See page |
| National Museum of the American Indian — George Gustav Heye Center | Always free | Everyone | See page |
| Institution | Free day | Who qualifies | Reservation |
|---|---|---|---|
| American Museum of Natural History | Pay-what-you-wish daily (residents) | New York State residents (with ID) | See page |
| Bronx Zoo | No regular free day | Wednesday reduced-admission tickets: anyone who books in time | See page |
| MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) | Fridays 5:30pm–8:30pm | New York State residents (with ID) | See page |
| The Metropolitan Museum of Art | Pay-what-you-wish daily (residents) | New York State residents; NY, NJ and CT students (with ID) | See page |
| Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum | Sun/Tue 4pm–5:30pm (PWYW) | Everyone | Required |
| Whitney Museum of American Art | Fridays 5pm–10pm | Everyone | Required |
| Museum of the Moving Image | Thursdays 2pm–6pm | Everyone | Required |
| 9/11 Memorial & Museum | Mondays 5:30pm–7pm | Everyone | Required |
| New York Botanical Garden | Wednesdays 10am–11am | NYC residents all day Wednesday | See page |
| Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum | Sun/Mon/Tue/Wed/Thu/Fri/Sat 5pm–6pm (PWYW) | Everyone during the pay-what-you-wish hour. Free year-round for ages 18 and under. Also free for: SNAP/EBT cardholders plus 3 guests | Required |
| Day | Who's free in New York |
|---|---|
| Sunday | Guggenheim (4pm–5:30pm) · Cooper Hewitt (5pm–6pm) |
| Monday | 9/11 Museum (5:30pm–7pm) · Cooper Hewitt (5pm–6pm) |
| Tuesday | Guggenheim (4pm–5:30pm) · Cooper Hewitt (5pm–6pm) |
| Wednesday | NYBG (10am–11am) · Cooper Hewitt (5pm–6pm) |
| Thursday | MoMI (2pm–6pm) · Cooper Hewitt (5pm–6pm) |
| Friday | MoMA (5:30pm–8:30pm) · Whitney (5pm–10pm) · Cooper Hewitt (5pm–6pm) |
| Saturday | Cooper Hewitt (5pm–6pm) |
| Any day | Brooklyn Museum · Queens Museum · Heye Center |
Stack the schedules and a near-zero-admission week emerges: Sunday belongs to Guggenheim (4pm–5:30pm) and Cooper Hewitt (5pm–6pm); Monday belongs to 9/11 Museum (5:30pm–7pm) and Cooper Hewitt (5pm–6pm); Tuesday belongs to Guggenheim (4pm–5:30pm) and Cooper Hewitt (5pm–6pm); Wednesday belongs to NYBG (10am–11am) and Cooper Hewitt (5pm–6pm); Thursday belongs to MoMI (2pm–6pm) and Cooper Hewitt (5pm–6pm); Friday belongs to 3 institutions; Saturday belongs to Cooper Hewitt (5pm–6pm) — and Brooklyn Museum, Queens Museum, Heye Center fill any gap, since they charge nothing on any day. The honest caveat: 3 of New York's 13 programs are resident-gated, so out-of-towners should read each page's "who qualifies" line before building the week around it. Date-batch programs add extra days on top — their pages carry the published dates.
The 11 paid institutions we track in New York charge a combined $283.70 in adult admission — Bronx Zoo is the biggest single line at $37.70. On the free calendar the same visits cost nothing — up to $567.40 kept for a couple, $1134.80 for four. The asterisk: American Museum of Natural History, MoMA, The Met gate their free routes by residency, so out-of-town totals run lower — each page's "who qualifies" line has the exact rule. Brooklyn Museum and Queens Museum and Heye Center aren't in that arithmetic at all — admission there is free every open day. For scale: across the 37 cities on this site the median tracked roster is 4 institutions, which makes New York's 13 one of the deeper free-day rosters we cover.
Bank of America's Museums on Us program opens participating New York institutions to cardholders free on the first full weekend of every month — in New York that includes The Met, NYBG, Cooper Hewitt. And through Museums for All, a SNAP EBT card admits up to four people for free-to-$5 on any regular day.
Count 2 New York-area names on the Museums for All participant list — show a SNAP EBT card plus photo ID and up to four people get in for free-to-$5, on any normal operating day: King Manor · The Silent Clowns Film Series. Mechanics, exclusions and the searchable national roster are on our Museums for All guide.
Free days cover the timing; a city pass covers the rest of the trip: CityPASS New York bundles several of New York's top paid attractions at a discount — worth comparing against walk-up prices if you're visiting for more than a day. Before paying admission anywhere in New York, check the reciprocity lookup: NARM, ASTC and AZA agreements frequently honor out-of-town memberships here.
One short email a month with New York's verified free days — the dates, the resident rules, nothing else.
↥ Check another museum → Browse all free museum & zoo days →
Mostly no — the pay-what-you-wish deals at the Met and AMNH are for New York State residents (plus NY/NJ/CT students at the Met). Tourists' best free options are MoMA PS1 (free for all), the city's free-admission institutions, and Museums on Us weekends for Bank of America cardholders.
Brooklyn Museum, Queens Museum, National Museum of the American Indian — George Gustav Heye Center — general admission never costs anything there.
Some do. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Whitney Museum of American Art and Museum of the Moving Image and 9/11 Memorial & Museum and Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum require advance free tickets; each institution's page here says exactly how it works and links the official booking page.