Who Are All of the People Coming to the Met?

The Great Hall filled with visitors. Photograph by Thomas B. Ling

«Every day, the Met's Great Hall becomes a melting pot of people looking for art and inspiration. Just like the art in the galleries, the Museum's visitors come from all around the world. It's no wonder that we've received a few questions from kids who are curious about just how many people visit the Museum (hint: a lot!) and where those people are coming from.»

Did you know that there are people working at the Met who are just as interested in this question as you are? Part of their job is to find out who's coming to the Met and what those people like to do or see when they're here.

We turned to Market Research Associate Margaret Choo to answer some of these #MetKids questions and provide some fun information about all of the people visiting the Met. Margaret and her team were excited to tackle this question. Here's what they reported:

Almost 4,500 New Yorkers visit The Metropolitan Museum of Art on an average day. That adds up to over 1.6 million New Yorkers a year! In addition to that, with over six million visitors every year, we have visitors who travel from all fifty states as well as from 189 different countries around the world.



Luckily, the Met is large enough to fit thirty-eight football fields—or four Great Pyramids—so it's able to hold all our visitors and many more. During the holiday season (and sometimes on very rainy days), we can have over thirty-five thousand visitors in a single day!



On days like that, the Museum looks like a sea of people. Yet with two million square feet covering five thousand years of history, there's always a chance to find a quiet spot somewhere in our 437 galleries to enjoy art, break out your sketchbook, or do a little people watching.

A young visitor sketches in the Arms and Armor galleries. Photograph by Natasha Mileshina

Do you have a question about the Met's many visitors? Ask us in the comments!