York’s museums and gallery reached hundreds of thousands of people in 2024/25, while the wider Museum Gardens attracted 1.3 million free visits. The latest York Museums Trust figures also show substantial school participation, digital reach, volunteer support and local economic activity. Older attendance series provide useful context, but the measurement periods and the sites included vary.
Contents
- Visitor totals and reach
- Attendance at individual museums
- Schools and community participation
- Visitor experience and quality
- Jobs, volunteers and economic impact
- Collections, digital reach and finance
Visitor totals and reach
York Museums Trust welcomed 392,000 visitors across its museums and gallery in 2024/25. This total excludes the separate count for free visits to York Museum Gardens, which reached 1.3 million during the same period. The figures therefore describe two different kinds of use: visits to the Trust’s museums and gallery, and visits to an open garden space. York Museums Trust: Our Impact
The 2024/25 museum and gallery audience included 56,000 children, excluding school visits, and 33,000 young adults aged 17–24. York and North Yorkshire residents accounted for 80,000 visitors. A much larger 312,000 visitors came from outside the region, showing the Trust’s role as both a local cultural service and a visitor attraction. York Museums Trust: Our Impact
International visitors made up 58,000 of the 2024/25 total. The Trust also recorded 79,000 visitors from levelling-up areas across the North and Midlands, including 3,300 from Selby. These categories overlap with the wider visitor total, so they should be read as audience characteristics rather than added together. York Museums Trust: Our Impact
Attendance at individual museums
The historical attendance figures show how reported visits differed by attraction and year. The 2017/18 total covered four reported York Museums Trust sites, whereas the 2022/23 total covered three reported museums and gallery, so the totals are not a like-for-like long-term series.
| Attraction or reported group | 2017/18 | 2019/20 | 2022/23 |
|---|---|---|---|
| York Castle Museum | 287,626 | 240,913 | 224,557 |
| Yorkshire Museum | 120,630 | 105,503 | 75,866 |
| York Art Gallery | 83,954 | 73,031 | 128,849 |
| York St Mary’s | 13,875 | — | — |
| Reported group total | 506,085 | — | 429,272 |
York Castle Museum recorded 287,626 visits in 2017/18, 240,913 visitors in 2019/20 and 224,557 visitors in 2022/23. The Yorkshire Museum recorded 120,630 visits in 2017/18, 105,503 visitors in 2019/20 and 75,866 visitors in 2022/23. York Museums and Gallery Trust Annual Report: Year Ended 31 March 2018, York Museums Trust Annual Report 2019-20, York Museums and Gallery Trust Trustees’ Report and Financial Statements: Year Ended 31 March 2023
York Art Gallery recorded 83,954 visits in 2017/18, 73,031 visitors in 2019/20 and 128,849 visitors in 2022/23. York St Mary’s recorded 13,875 visits in 2017/18. The four reported sites together recorded 506,085 visits in 2017/18, while the three reported museums and gallery recorded 429,272 visitors in 2022/23. The source reports use the terms visits and visitors, and the periods and site coverage should be retained when comparing them. York Museums and Gallery Trust Annual Report: Year Ended 31 March 2018, York Museums Trust Annual Report 2019-20, York Museums and Gallery Trust Trustees’ Report and Financial Statements: Year Ended 31 March 2023
Schools and community participation
Education is a substantial part of York’s museum activity. In 2024/25, York Museums Trust hosted 392 school visits involving 12,700 children. All surveyed teachers—100%—said they would recommend a York Museums Trust school visit. The recommendation figure is a survey result, not a count of all teachers or all school visits. York Museums Trust: Our Impact
The earlier reports provide additional measures of participation. More than 130,000 children and young people visited York Museums Trust attractions in 2017/18, against a target of 110,000. In 2019/20, children made 27,870 school-trip visits, and the Trust delivered 664 workshops across its sites. That same 2019/20 report recorded 12,675 active YMT Card holders. These are period-specific measures and should not be combined with the 2024/25 school-visit total. York Museums and Gallery Trust Annual Report: Year Ended 31 March 2018, York Museums Trust Annual Report 2019-20
Free community events also drew sizeable audiences. York Museums Trust recorded more than 5,000 free visits during York Residents’ Festival on 27–28 January 2018, and 2,800 free festival visits on 24–25 June 2017. The dates matter: these are event totals, not annual visitor figures. York Museums and Gallery Trust Annual Report: Year Ended 31 March 2018
Visitor experience and quality
The 2024/25 impact measures describe what visitors said they gained from their experience. Nine in ten York Museums Trust visitors said their visit sparked curiosity. At York Art Gallery, nine in ten visitors said they felt more engaged with art. Nine in ten visitors to the Yorkshire Museum and York Castle Museum said they felt more engaged with history and life in the past. Eight in ten Trust visitors said their visit improved their wellbeing. These are reported proportions from visitor feedback, not independently calculated rates for every visitor. York Museums Trust: Our Impact
Earlier Visit England Visitor Attraction Quality Scheme mystery visits produced separate scores. In 2017/18, York Castle Museum scored 80%, Yorkshire Museum and Gardens scored 86%, and York Art Gallery scored 89%. In 2019/20, York Castle Museum scored 80% and York Art Gallery scored 92%. The mystery-visit scores are quality-assessment results and should not be presented as visitor satisfaction percentages. York Museums and Gallery Trust Annual Report: Year Ended 31 March 2018, York Museums Trust Annual Report 2019-20
Jobs, volunteers and economic impact
York Museums Trust reported a gross economic impact of £17.9 million in 2024/25. Visitor spending onsite and locally generated £14.7 million, while procurement spend reached £3.3 million. Half of that procurement spend was local. These measures describe reported economic impact and spending, not a single cash payment to the city or a forecast. York Museums Trust: Our Impact
The Trust employed 155 staff in 2024/25, equivalent to 127 full-time roles. It also had 73 volunteers who provided more than 11,000 hours of support. The earlier 2019/20 report recorded 17,527 volunteer hours and 2,170 visitor-facing activities across all sites. Because the later source uses “more than 11,000” and the older source reports a precise total, the two figures should remain tied to their respective years. York Museums Trust: Our Impact, York Museums Trust Annual Report 2019-20
Collections, digital reach and finance
The Trust’s reach extends beyond people entering a museum. In 2024/25, collection loans were seen by 3.4 million people. The 31 reported collection loans were seen in six countries. The Trust also recorded more than half a million social-media engagements and 1.25 million website visitors. These figures represent different channels and should not be added to physical visitor totals. York Museums Trust: Our Impact
Taken together, these measures show several distinct forms of reach. Physical attendance counts people visiting the museums and gallery, while the garden figure captures free access to an outdoor site. Collection loans extend the audience to people seeing objects away from York, and website and social-media measures capture online attention. Each metric has its own unit and counting method, so the most useful reading is comparative: the Trust serves local and visiting audiences in person, reaches people through partner displays, and maintains a separate digital audience. The 2024/25 figures identify scale across those channels without claiming that one person appears only once.
The Trust estimated that caring for its museums, gallery, gardens and collections cost £17,000 per day in 2024/25. Ticket sales and commercial activity supplied 75% of income. Arts Council England provided £1.1 million per year as a National Portfolio Organisation, while City of York Council provided £307,000. The £17,000 daily figure is an estimate, and the funding figures describe the stated 2024/25 support arrangements rather than a forecast. York Museums Trust: Our Impact