Museum Revenue Benchmark

Average Museum Revenue per Year 2022 Economic Census

The 2022 Economic Census counts every in-scope museum with paid employees, nonprofit and private, from a small history museum to a major art institution, and publishes their combined annual receipts, which include admissions, memberships, shop sales and contributions reported as revenue. Dividing that total by the number of museums gives the average annual revenue per employer establishment shown below.

≈$2,590,000 /year

Average annual gross revenue per employer establishment

How this is calculated: about $13.5 billion in combined annual receipts divided by 5,224 employer establishments works out to an average annual revenue of $2,590,000 per employer establishment.

Scope: Museums, NAICS 712110. The category covers museums with paid employees, including art, history, science and children's museums. Historical sites, zoos and art dealers are counted in separate categories. Classified separately in group 7121: 712120 Historical sites; 712130 Zoos and Botanical Gardens; 712190 Nature Parks and Other Similar Institutions. Nothing outside that code is counted on this page.

Source US Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census, Summary Statistics (ECNBASIC): ESTAB, RCPTOT and PAYANN by NAICS · Vintage 2022 Economic Census · Calculation BusinessNES · Accessed September 2026

Employer Establishments at Year Five Endpoint only

Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions, NAICS 7121, the 2018 starting count compared with the count of five-year-old establishments in 2023.

Across the 2014 to 2018 cohorts, five-year results ranged from 60.3 to 71.9 percent. This benchmark covers Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions, NAICS 7121, as a whole, and this category accounts for 5,224 of the 7,930 employer establishments in it. A count by age is not a survival rate, because the figures compare two headcounts rather than follow one set of businesses.

Payroll as a Share of Revenue Official data

Payroll divided by receipts, both as published for the same year.

Payroll share of receipts, Museums, United States, 2022 Economic Census.

Approximately 28.0 percent of every revenue dollar goes to annual payroll, a modest share covering curators, educators, guards, shop and front-of-house staff, in institutions where buildings, exhibitions and collections care absorb much of the rest.

Payroll here excludes benefits, employer taxes and owner compensation, and revenue here follows census reporting for these establishments, so how contributions and grants are counted shapes the figure more than in a commercial trade.

Business Scale and Ownership Structure Official data

How large the average establishment is, and whether the population is independent operators or multi-site companies.

Scale and ownership, Museums, United States, 2022 Economic Census.

The average establishment employed about 17.5 people, and the industry averaged 1.0 employer establishments per firm, which confirms that multi-establishment ownership exists in the published population without showing how establishments are distributed across firms. As an illustration, that headcount blends large institutions employing hundreds with small museums run by a handful of paid staff alongside volunteers.

These are arithmetic industry averages. They state the size of the average establishment and show that multi-establishment ownership exists. They do not show the distribution of business sizes and they do not measure market concentration.

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Data Source Notice

This product uses the Census Bureau Data API but is not endorsed or certified by the Census Bureau.

Figures above are from the 2022 Economic Census reference year, released by the Census Bureau in 2024 and 2025; markets have moved since.

Questions Worth Asking BusinessNES analysis

Museum: why a revenue average across nonprofit institutions needs careful reading.

Before you rely on this benchmark

• Which museums are counted? The census population here is in-scope employer museums, nonprofit and private, and it generally leaves out government-owned public museums. Within it, revenue can include donations, grants and endowment income beside admissions, so funding models differ sharply.
• How much comes through the door? Admissions and memberships are only part of museum income, and free-admission institutions rely largely on philanthropy and grants. The share of earned revenue decides how a museum's finances move with attendance.
• How large is the institution? A major art museum and a small local history museum share this category, and the large ones lift the average far above what a small museum receives. The figure portrays the category, not a typical museum.
• What does the building cost? Climate control, security, conservation and exhibition space are heavy fixed costs that continue whether attendance is strong or weak. Facility cost per visitor is a central number outside a receipts figure.
• Do shops and events matter? Museum shops, cafes, venue rentals and special exhibitions add earned revenue and bring different labor and inventory costs. The mix behind an institution's receipts varies with its ambitions and its city.
• How does the census count donations? The Economic Census asks these establishments for revenue in a way that includes contributions and grants reported as receipts, so the figure is not comparable to sales at a store. The methodology note on this page explains the scope.