The Smithsonian saw the most visits in 2023 since before the pandemic. See which museum tops the list

Every year, the Smithsonian Institution counts daily visits to each of its 20 museums, and makes that tally available to the general public.

In 2023, there were a grand total of 17.7 million visits to the Smithsonians -- the most visits since 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Because the Smithsonian is free, and doesn't sell tickets that they can tally up, the institution has a unique way of counting visits.

Security officers use hand clickers to tally each person entering a given museum -- or, in some cases leaving. Their count can include staff members, people who left a museum and returned in the same day, or people who visited one museum earlier and are stopping by another.

"For these reasons, we always refer to the numbers below as "visits" rather than "visitors," the Smithsonian says on its website. Numbers are also rounded "to the nearest thousand or tenth of a million (M), depending on volume."

The natural world was popular in 2023: National Museum of Natural History saw the most visits by far, at 4.4 million.

Following up in second place was the National Museum of American History, which saw 2.1 million visits in 2023.

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The National Zoo and the National Air and Space Museum were tied for third place among the Smithsonians, each seeing 1.9 million visits over the course of the year.

Here are all the Smithsonian museums, listed from most visits to least visits in 2023:

1. National Museum of Natural History: 4,400,000 visits
2. National Museum of American History: 2,100,000
3. National Air and Space Museum: 1,900,000
4. National Zoo: 1,900,000
5. National Museum of African American History and Culture: 1,600,000
6. National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: 1,200,000
7. Smithsonian American Art Museum (With the Renwick Gallery): 1,100,000
8. National Portrait Gallery: 885,094
9. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden: 714,684
10. National Museum of the American Indian (Washington, D.C.): 704,074
11. Freer Gallery of Art: 333,598
12. National Museum of the American Indian Heye Center (New York City): 329,231
13. Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum: 281,035
14. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery: 189,819
15. National Postal Museum: 170,013
16. Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum: 152,591
17. National Museum of African Art: 130,569
18. Smithsonian Institution Building, "The Castle": 58,623
19. Arts and Industries Building: 31,180
20. Anacostia Community Museum: 15,516