Utah doesn't have a long list of paid museums running monthly 'free days' — instead, an unusually large share of its best museums simply never charge admission. Salt Lake City alone offers the free Church History Museum downtown, the pay-what-you-can Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, and the campus-based Natural History and Fine Arts museums at the University of Utah (the Fine Arts museum, UMFA, is free to all on the first Wednesday and third Saturday of every month). Down in Utah County, Brigham Young University's excellent Museum of Art is free every day, as is Springville's landmark Museum of Art — the first community art museum in the West.
A few ways to stretch a Utah museum budget further: many of the state's larger museums — including UMFA — take part in Bank of America's 'Museums on Us,' giving cardholders free admission the first full weekend of each month, and the same museums often run 'Museums for All' admission of $1–$5 for visitors with a Utah Horizon, EBT, or WIC card. UMFA and others are also Blue Star Museums, free for active-duty military families from mid-May through Labor Day. Up in the mountains, the Park City Museum on Historic Main Street waives its $15 admission on the third Saturday of every month. And note: the Leonardo, Salt Lake's longtime art-and-science museum, has closed permanently (see the note below).
Prefer somewhere free every single day? Jump to the 10 always-free museums ↓
Salt Lake City
Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA)
Regularly $19.95 adults / $16.95 seniors 65+ & youth 6–18 / Free under 6Utah's flagship art museum sits on the University of Utah campus and holds more than 20,000 works spanning 5,000 years — European and American painting, African and Asian art, and a strong modern and contemporary collection. General admission runs just under $20, but it's free for everyone on the first Wednesday and third Saturday of each month, when the museum also hosts a free drop-in family art studio. Free access may vary for special ticketed exhibitions.
🌐 Check current dates →Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (UMOCA)
Regularly Pay what you can ($10 suggested)The only museum in Utah devoted entirely to contemporary art, UMOCA fills a downtown gallery complex next to the Salt Palace with rotating exhibitions that change every couple of months — painting, sculpture, video, installation, and work by Utah-based artists. There's no fixed admission: the museum suggests a $10 donation but operates a pay-what-you-can policy, so you can visit for free any day it's open. Closed Sundays and Mondays.
🌐 Check current dates →Park City
Park City Museum
Regularly $15 adults / $11 seniors, students & military / Free under 18Housed in Park City's 1885 City Hall on Historic Main Street, this lively local-history museum tells the town's story from silver-mining boom to ski-resort fame, with interactive exhibits and the city's original basement jail. Admission is $15 for adults (kids under 18 are always free), but the whole museum is free for everyone on the third Saturday of every month — an easy add to a day window-shopping Main Street.
🌐 Check current dates →Always Free in Utah
Skip the calendar — these never charge admission, any day you show up.
Free days that recently ended
Still listed on many older round-ups — verified gone as of June 2026:
- The Leonardo (Salt Lake City) — permanently closed — Salt Lake City's longtime art, science, and technology museum has closed its doors permanently. Its own site cites the aging 61-year-old building's failing infrastructure (escalators, elevators, plumbing). If you're working from an older list of Utah museums, skip it — it's no longer open at any price.
Gear up for your museum day
A few inexpensive things that make a day of museum-hopping easier — and a couple of ways to bring the art home.
Bring the museum home
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