Texas Science & Natural History Museum Welcomes More Than 102,000 Visitors in Third Year Since Reopening

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Science & Natural History Museum welcomed 102,307 visitors in its third year of operations since reopening in September 2023, a 14% increase over the previous year. The museum’s 2025–26 Impact Report documents visits from all 50 states and 28 countries and highlights how the museum is expanding access to science and natural history on The University of Texas at Austin campus.

The museum recorded more than 28,000 free or discounted admissions through programs including H-E-B Free Fourth Sundays, Austin Museum Day, Museums for All and Blue Star Museums. School field trips brought more than 7,000 students and educators from across Central Texas to the museum, with free visits available to Title I schools. UT Austin students, faculty and staff also receive free admission with a current UT ID.

Science education is at the heart of the museum’s mission. In 2025–26, immersive exhibits, hands-on experiences, field trips and public programs gave visitors of all ages ways to explore Texas’ natural history. The museum opened its newly reimagined paleontology gallery with Epic Encounters, an updated exhibit that traces Texas’ fossil record from the Permian Period through the Pleistocene Epoch. Visitors can see fossils such as the 30-foot Onion Creek mosasaur, watch digital animations of eight extinct animals and explore prehistoric Texas through an interactive game. The museum also opened the special exhibit Masters of the Night: The True Story of Bats and the community art installation Follow the Monarchs.

Beyond its galleries, the museum brought hands-on learning experiences to thousands of adults and children through 40 outreach programs. Museum membership grew by 20%, bringing more members into a community that supports the museum and enjoys benefits such as free admission and early access to select programs. The museum also hosted 72 private events in its historic Art Deco building, with venue rentals helping support museum operations.

The museum made significant progress in conserving the 113-million-year-old Paluxy River dinosaur trackways, one of Texas’ most iconic fossil discoveries. The new Sarah and Ernest Butler Dinosaur Trackways Building will preserve the tracks and give generations of visitors a chance to see them up close and learn what fossil footprints reveal about how dinosaurs moved. The museum is grateful to Sarah and Ernest Butler for their lead gift and continues to raise funds for the project.

Read the full 2025–26 Impact Report