5 New York institutions let you name your own admission price — but "pay what you wish" hides three different rule sets: who qualifies, when it applies, and where the price is actually honored. This page separates them, with every rule read from the museum's own site (last checked 2026-09-15).
| Institution | When PWYW applies | Who qualifies | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| American Museum of Natural History | Every day (residents) | New York State residents (with ID) | PWYW covers general admission only — adding ticketed exhibitions costs the listed upgrade price even for NY residents, so pick your add-ons deliberately. |
| The Metropolitan Museum of Art | Every day (residents) | New York State residents; NY, NJ and CT students (with ID) | Accepted residency proof is broad: a NYS license, IDNYC, a current bill with a NY address, a student ID — even a New York library card. |
| Brooklyn Museum | Every open day | Everyone | Pay-what-you-can only works face-to-face: buying online or at a kiosk commits you to the full suggested $20, so go to the Admissions Desk to name your price. |
| Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum | Sun/Tue 4pm–5:30pm | Everyone | Students, faculty, and staff of five CUNY schools (Brooklyn College, College of Staten Island, Hunter, Lehman, Queens College) get free admission with two comp tickets per ID. |
| Queens Museum | Every open day | Everyone | An IDNYC card gets you in free outright — one of the few museums where the free NYC ID card is an explicit free-admission category. |
Resident-gated suggested admission: American Museum of Natural History and The Met let New York State residents pay any amount every day — with ID — while everyone else pays the posted rate. Open pay-what-you-can: Brooklyn Museum and Queens Museum take any amount from anyone, every open day — though the desk, not the website, is where a lower price is honored. The timed window: Guggenheim (sun/tue 4pm–5:30pm) — outside the window, posted prices apply to all.
New York's other route is the scheduled free window, no price negotiation involved: MoMA is free Fridays 5:30pm–8:30pm; Whitney is free Fridays 5pm–10pm; MoMI is free Thursdays 2pm–6pm; 9/11 Museum is free Mondays 5:30pm–7pm; NYBG is free Wednesdays 10am–11am. And the borough-wide view — every free and pay-what-you-wish route we track — lives on the New York free museum days guide.
↥ Check another museum → Browse all free museum & zoo days →
Brooklyn Museum, Guggenheim, Queens Museum — no residency requirement. American Museum of Natural History and The Met are pay-what-you-wish only for New York State residents; visitors pay posted prices there.
No — American Museum of Natural History and The Met restrict name-your-price admission to New York State residents (ID or proof required). Out-of-towners pay full price, or use the truly-open options above.
Whatever you choose — $1 or even $0 is accepted where pay-what-you-wish applies. The suggested amounts ($37 at American Museum of Natural History, $30 at The Met, $20 at Brooklyn Museum) are defaults, not minimums. The one mechanical catch: some box offices only honor it in person, not online.
MoMA (fridays 5:30pm–8:30pm), Whitney (fridays 5pm–10pm), MoMI (thursdays 2pm–6pm), 9/11 Museum (mondays 5:30pm–7pm) run scheduled free windows rather than pay-what-you-wish — different mechanism, same $0; each page here has the booking details.