For Immediate Release

Arlington, VA—The American Alliance of Museums (AAM), the only organization representing the entire scope of the museum community, today released findings from the latest iteration of an annual survey assessing the current state of museums in the United States.

Over 400 museum directors responded to the survey on their organizations’ behalf, representing a broad cross-section of the field in geography, size, and discipline. The survey, conducted by AAM and Wilkening Consulting and fielded in August of this year, tracked key metrics the Alliance began to collect in June 2020 to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on museums and, more recently, gauging new opportunities and challenges for the sector.

“Museums across the country are critical to the economic vitality of communities, education and workforce development, and preserving our cultural heritage,” said Marilyn Jackson, AAM President & CEO. “While museums strive to fill important gaps in their communities, they face significant challenges. The findings of this year’s report paint a clear picture that the museum field is still on the path to recovery from the impacts of the pandemic and will continue to be vulnerable to significant disruptions.”

The 2024 report shows encouraging improvement from 2023 though recovery remains uneven, and many museums have not yet returned to their pre-pandemic attendance or financial health:

• Four years after the pandemic’s start, only half of museums (51 percent) have recovered to 100 percent or more of their pre-pandemic attendance levels. This is an improvement from 2023 when only one-third of museums had fully recovered to their pre-pandemic attendance levels.

• Museums support a broad range of American jobs in their communities, from security and administrative positions to educators and exhibition designers. 89% of museums have maintained consistent staff sizes or grown their staff over the past year.

• Financial recovery from the damage of the pandemic has been inconsistent, with 19% of museums seeing decreases in net operating performance as compared to 2019, 57% experiencing increases, and 24% seeing no change.

• Looking forward, 46% of respondents project their bottom line will increase this year compared to 2023, 17% expect decreases in their bottom line, and 37% expect no change.

• While charitable donations are up, 61% of museums report that the number of individual donors to the museum has stayed the same or decreased in the last five years. This indicates a sustainability challenge that comports with the broader nonprofit sector and demonstrates the need to provide the charitable deduction for the vast majority of taxpayers who do not itemize.

• When asked what they anticipate to be the most significant disruptions to their business strategies in 2025, almost half of respondents identified shifts in philanthropy (48%) and financial/market instability (46%), followed by a reduction or elimination of government funding (33%).

This research makes clear that disruptions to philanthropy, market instability, and threats of reduction or elimination in government funding have the potential to radically impact an already fragile sector. While the museum field’s recovery from the pandemic is improving, significant support is still needed to secure this vital sector.

Download the full report.

About the American Alliance of Museums

The American Alliance of Museums (AAM) is the only organization representing the entire museum field, from art and history museums to science centers and zoos. Since 1906, we have been championing museums through advocacy and providing museum professionals with the resources, knowledge, inspiration, and connections they need to move the field forward.

###

Press Contact:

Natanya Khashan
media@aam-us.org