12 Most Visited Museums In Washington, DC, Ranked

When it comes to the best cities for museums in the United States, there are very few, if any, that can boast the sheer number and importance of Washington, D.C.'s lineup. The nation's capital is well known as an amazing travel spot for those with a passion for history and knowledge. One of the reasons for Washington, D.C.'s sterling reputation for elite museums is the Smithsonian Institution, a world-class museum, research, and education complex that houses 21 museums, with 16 of those calling Washington, D.C., home.

If the importance of the Smithsonian isn't evident enough, it will be throughout our list, as nine of the top 12 most visited museums in Washington are under the Smithsonian umbrella. In terms of finding and organizing the most visited museums in Washington, it can be a challenging process since Washington, D.C. is known as the "Capital of Free Museums."  As Smithsonian museums are free, there aren't any tickets to tally. The Smithsonian notably counts traffic by the number of visits they get rather than the number of unique visitors, meaning a visitor leaving and re-entering the building is counted twice. Still, the Smithsonian's official numbers reflect their popularity, and we used them to compile this list as well as direct information from non-Smithsonian museums' websites. 

The National Museum of Natural History tops our list as the most popular museum in the DC area and saw 3.3 million visits in 2025. Conveniently located on the National Mall, the National Museum of Natural History opened in 1910,  spans the size of 18 football fields, and has the largest natural history collection in the world – it's home to nearly 150 million natural science specimens and artifacts.

Upon entering the museum, you'll be greeted by the museum's most famous inhabitant, Henry, the African bush elephant, who proudly sits in the center of the main rotunda. After admiring the memorable rotunda, head to the David H. Koch Hall of Fossils, a popular exhibit themed Deep Time. It showcases billions of years of evolutionary life, with 700 fossil specimens from a 67 million- year-old T-Rex, to an American mastodon around 11-15,000 years old. 

If you're more interested in smaller creatures, check out the O. Orkin insect zoo on the second floor of the museum. A mainstay at the museum since 1976, you'll see some of the most fascinating insects on the planet, like the leaf insect, Malayan jungle nymph, or the hornworm caterpillar. From some of the tiniest creatures on the planet to some of the biggest, the first floor Sant Ocean Hall gets you up close to the massive fossilized jaws of a megalodon that's millions of years old, or next to a preserved 25-foot-long giant squid.

Another gem on the National Mall is the National Air & Space Museum, which has brought aviation enthusiasts from around the world since 1976. In 2025, the museum saw 1.9 million visits, its guests taking in some of mankind's greatest achievements in the skies. Upon visiting the museum, you will get an up close view of plenty of historical flights, known for such milestones as the world's first successful flight, the first flight over the Atlantic, and the first spacecraft to help humans land on the moon. 

A lot of enthusiasts believe that the birth of flight started in 1903 with the Wright Flyer, so be sure to check out the plane that first lifted man into the clouds. Charles Lindbergh is one of the most important names in aviation and the country's history, so get within feet of the exterior and interior of The Spirit of St. Louis, the first aircraft to fly nonstop across the Atlantic from New York to Paris. One of the most important moments in world history is the Apollo 11 mission to the moon, where the first humans landed on the moon. You can view the Command Module Columbia, part of the spacecraft, and experience space history.

Everything about the red, white, and blue is the theme of the National Museum of American History. Welcoming 1.8 million visits in 2025, this is another stellar museum on the National Mall that showcases the rich and diverse history of the United States. Whether you're looking for celebrity memorabilia, political artifacts, or historical exhibits, the National Museum of American History has something for everybody. 

This museum doesn't just have fascinating exhibits; it tells the American story around every corner. You can look through a glass window to see the multi-year restoration of the Gunboat Philadelphia, a newly built boat for American troops in 1776, which sank to the bottom of Lake Champlain in New York and was recovered in 1935. What symbolizes America more than its national pastime, baseball? Fans of America's game can get a close-up look at Los Angeles Dodgers great Sandy Koufax's glove. Admire the leather glove of the lefty pitcher who won three Cy Young awards and four World Series. 

After admiring the gunboat and a baseball great's glove, there are plenty of exhibits to check out. "America on the Move" is a look at the transportation evolution over 125 years up to 1999, while the Greensboro Lunch Counter is a landmark moment in the Civil Rights Movement, where on February 1, 1960, four African American college students sat down at a "whites only" counter at their local diner in protest of racial segregation.

One of the newest museums on this list is the National Museum of African American History and Culture. It opened in 2016 and celebrates resilience, strength, and the highs and lows of groundbreaking achievements, the Civil Rights Movement, and the history of slavery. The museum saw 1.4 million visits to its halls in 2025. Visitors here are able to explore unique exhibitions, galleries, and other stories.

A popular gallery to visit is Musical Crossroads, a creative look at the iconic musical genres brought forth by African Americans. You'll be able to view Chuck Berry's Cadillac that was driven on stage at Fox Theater in St. Louis during the "Hail! Hail! Rock and Roll!" documentary. "Double Victory" is a memorable gallery, where you get an in-depth look at stories of African American soldiers who valiantly fought from the Revolutionary War up until the modern-day War on Terror, while trying to earn freedom, citizenship, and help to foster a more equal country of their own. 

Finally, stop over to the "At the Vanguard" exhibit to get a look at the unique history of HBCUs, and the powerful stories of how each university came to be and how they continue to celebrate African American culture and education in the United States.

Our next museum on the list is the Smithsonian American Art Museum, which had 1.1 million visits in 2025. Visitors here view the most expansive collection of art in the country's history, admiring works from as early as the 17th century. When visiting the Smithsonian American Art Museum, you'll be able to appreciate America's story through artwork from colonies like New Spain and New England, 19th-century art that highlights impressionism, the Gilded Age, and Western migration.

Some new age art that you'll be able to view comes from the Latinx Art collection. Showcasing artists of Latin American descent, you'll be able to view works like "Braceros" by Domingo Ulloa or "Justice for Our Lives" by Oree Originol. Among many exhibitions to view, a newer option is "Mammoth" by Nick Cave, an immersive creation of old Mammoth bones, hides, and transformed objects from his upbringing in Missouri.

Just minutes outside the D.C. city limits in Chantilly, Virginia, is the partner facility to the National Air & Space Museum. Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center has two hangars that consist of a Concorde, the space shuttle Discovery, and many other mesmerizing aviation marvels that saw 1 million visits in 2025. While the main museum is impressive enough, the sheer display of what these two hangars house allows you to explore historic planes and spacecraft closer than most ever will.

Arguably, the crown jewel of the museum is the Space Shuttle Discovery. Spending 365 days in space across 39 earth-orbiting missions, it's known as the most used space orbiter the world has ever seen. One of the most unique builds through aviation history, as well as one of the fastest, is the Concorde, Fox Alpha, Air France. Beginning in 1976, the Concorde service was known for flying at twice the speed of sound across the Atlantic, for first class passengers who prioritized the fastest flights they could find. If you want to continue on the theme of speed, head over to the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. Known as the world's fastest jet-propelled aircraft, the SR-71 specialized in reconnaissance, starting during the Cold War, and logged more than 2,800 hours of flight time over 24 years of service.

Stroll through the National Portrait Gallery and admire some of the most memorable portraits of influential figures throughout America's past. From presidents to celebrities and everyone in between, this museum tells America's story through a frame. The Gallery had 937,716 visits in 2025, making it one of the most popular museums in Washington; it ranked as one of the world's best museums in 2025.

One of the most popular exhibits within the museum is "America's Presidents," which, outside of the White House, is the only place you'll find a complete collection of presidential portraits in the world. On the first floor of the museum is "Out of Many: Portraits from 1600 to 1900," an exhibit that highlights people who changed America, including soldiers, clergymen, scientists, and more.

Stepping up to the third floor, you'll notice the exhibit "20th Century Americans," where you'll see perhaps more recognizable faces, as it's a gallery dedicated to the people who shook up the American landscape, no matter big or small, throughout the 20th century. Familiar faces like Albert Einstein, Bill Gates, Jane Addams, and more are available to view.

One D.C. museum that's gained popularity in the past decade is the International Spy Museum, which saw over 730,000 visitors walk through its halls in 2024. Opened in 2002, this unique museum shines a spotlight on the shadowy world of espionage. 

While many may think of a spy museum as an attraction for adults, this museum is actually a popular option for families with children. One subtle but effective exhibit is the "Camouflage: Designed to Deceive," which lets you explore the beginnings of camouflage, from its real-life applications on the battlefield to how it's been utilized through espionage. Another interactive exhibit is on the 5th floor, the "Briefing Center", where you'll assume a new identity, be briefed at the theater, and join eight special digital stations to test your spy skills by finding drop sites, blending into your environment, and gathering information.

If you're into the entertaining stories of spy tales, you can head to the 4th floor and learn about spy stories from Berlin during the Cold War, or The Spy Next Door, which tells about the ten Russian spies who lived in the United States under assumed identities before finally being caught by the FBI.

Located near the United States Botanic Garden on the National Mall is the National Museum of the American Indian. With complexes in both New York City and the nation's capital, it showcases one of the world's most expansive collections of Native artifacts. This important museum saw 620,455 visits in 2025.

One of the longest-running exhibits at the museum is "Nation to Nation: Treaties Between the United States and American Indian Nations," which teaches visitors about Native diplomats and the legacy of U.S.-American Indian diplomacy. "Insight: Photos and Stories from the Archives" will give you a rare, intimate glimpse into images of social gatherings and everyday life. The exhibit will be open until mid-January 2028. The "Americans" exhibit highlights central themes in episodes of "Seinfeld" and "South Park," recognizing historical events like the Trail of Tears and the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

Opened in 1980, the National Building Museum sees half a million visitors annually, while highlighting the country's architectural marvels, brilliant engineering minds, and the impact on the evolution of America's skyline.

If you're looking for an immersive experience that's both educational and entertaining for the entire family, stop over to the "Building Stories" exhibit. Your family will be able to take advantage of hands-on activities, sketching, and reading, all while learning how the environment affects our lives and communities. Take the opportunity to travel the world through a miniature lens, by checking out "Mini Memories", an exhibit that showcases 400 tiny structures from well-known or little-known buildings that can be abstract or highly detailed. 

"House & Home" takes a deep dive into how the idea of home has changed across generations. The gallery uses sound, photographs, and objects to make the exhibit come alive. There are models of 14 iconic homes in the middle of the gallery space, a timeline showing visitors how the mortgage system came to be, and walls made of different textures that you're able to touch and feel the difference for yourself.

Opened in 1974, the Hirshhorn Museum has been a popular voice for groundbreaking artists. Located on the National Mall, you'll find exhibits in video, technology, digital media, and other mediums brought to life by artists from all around the world. In 2025, there were 484,175 visits to its halls, putting the Hirshhorn just outside the top 10 busiest museums in Washington.

The building that houses the museum is a work of art itself, as it's known for its contemporary art & design. The Pritzker Prize-winning architect Gordon Bunshaft designed the building in the curved, completely hollowed-out center style that helped make it famous.

An eye-catching and ongoing exhibit at the museum is Laurie Anderson's "Four Talks". This memorable exhibit by Anderson, a renowned multimedia artist, was created in 2021 and has four sculptures, a parrot, a canoe, a raven, and a shelf in the middle of the floor. Surrounding the sculptures are black walls and a floor that are covered with song lyrics, jokes, current events commentary, and personal thoughts for you to follow. Another ongoing exhibit, and one of the oldest, is "Belief+Doubt" by Barbara Kruger, which was installed in 2012 and covers the lower-level lobby and part of the bookstore. Text-printed vinyl covers the walls, floors, and even escalator sides with words that ask open-ended questions about ideas like democracy, power, consumption, and other ideological thoughts.

The National Children's Museum made its debut in the 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue location in 2021, although it has a long history dating back to the 1970s when it was one of just 10 children's museums in the U.S. While we've highlighted numerous museums that are great stops for kids, the National Children's Museum is certainly atop the list, challenging kids of all ages, while focusing on STEAM exhibits and programs. Since moving to downtown D.C., the museum has seen more than225,000 visitors pass through its door annually.

The "Engineering Games & Play" exhibit is at the heart of what makes this museum so great. Teaching kids from ages 3-12 about engineering and science concepts through fun things like shooting a basketball, hitting a homerun, or building a racecar to see kinetic energy at work. "Weather Worlds" is an immersive digital exhibit that teaches young kids about weather patterns around our world and how those patterns affect us, by allowing kids to "control the weather" through a magic wand! If your kids love creativity, the "Art & Tech" exhibit allows them to go through Paw Patrol rescue training with Rubble, Skye, and Marshall. They can also view real deep-sea dive footage and overlap it with SpongeBob SquarePants animation to create scenes through light and shadows.

Finding dependable visitor numbers for museums can be tricky if they are free and can't track ticket sales. Because the Smithsonian is such an overwhelming part of this list and doesn't charge for entry,  the majority of the visitor numbers found for these museums were through the Smithsonian website itself. 

There are a couple of museums that didn't belong to the Smithsonian, so we gathered numbers from those museum websites directly. While the number of visitors to each museum can be vague or vary quite a bit, we're focusing on the most recent figures that could be found for each museum through dependable sites.

While the museums on this list reflect the most-visited in Washington, D.C., they also showcase the diversity of museums available in the city. The museums on this list cover a wide variety of interests, so whether you're a traveler on a solo trip or a family with young children on a summer vacation, there are enough options to go around.