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If you’ve been looking for an excuse to swap doomscrolling for something a little more enriching, a new roundup from USA Today’s 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards might do the trick. Rather than crowning a single “best museum” overall, the 2026 list spotlights standout institutions across a range of categories—from kid-friendly spaces to maritime heavyweights—based on expert nominations and reader votes.
The result is a cross-country scavenger hunt of cultural superlatives. Pittsburgh, for example, earns serious bragging rights this year. The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh was named Best Children’s Museum for its hands-on exhibits and inclusive design, while the nearby Heinz History Center claimed the title of Best History Museum, thanks in part to its interactive galleries and the nostalgic “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” exhibit.
Art lovers looking for a free culture fix might want to bookmark Ohio’s Toledo Museum of Art, which took the Best Free Museum title with more than 30,000 works spanning centuries. Meanwhile, the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath sailed into the Best Maritime Museum category, celebrating New England’s shipbuilding and seafaring heritage with both indoor exhibits and historic waterfront spaces.
Pop culture and music also had its moment. The National Comedy Center in Jamestown, New York, was named Best Pop Culture Museum for its interactive look at comedy history, from vaudeville to memes, while Nashville’s Johnny Cash Museum grabbed Best Music Museum honors, packed with memorabilia from the “Man in Black.”
Science buffs weren’t left out either. Columbus’ Center of Science and Industry (COSI) was voted Best Science Museum, offering everything from dinosaur galleries to hands-on engineering experiments, and the INTUITIVE Planetarium at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, earned Best Planetarium thanks to its massive 8K dome and daily shows.
Back in the Northeast, Massachusetts’ Plimoth Patuxet Museums took Best Open-Air Museum, immersing visitors in early Plymouth Colony life alongside Wampanoag cultural interpretation. And in Washington, Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum rolled away with Best Small Town Museum, where guests can hop aboard restored vintage streetcars for a moving history lesson.
With more than 35,000 museums across the United States, the awards highlight just how varied—and unexpectedly fun—the country’s cultural landscape can be. Whether you’re planning a weekend road trip or building a future bucket list, consider this your cheat sheet for museum bragging rights.
All the 2026 USA Today 10Best museum category winners:
- Best Children’s Museum: Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
- Best Free Museum: Toledo Museum of Art (Toledo, Ohio)
- Best History Museum: Heinz History Center (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
- Best Maritime Museum: Maine Maritime Museum (Bath, Maine)
- Best Music Museum: Johnny Cash Museum (Nashville, Tennessee)
- Best Open-Air Museum: Plimoth Patuxet Museums (Plymouth, Massachusetts)
- Best Planetarium: INTUITIVE Planetarium at U.S. Space & Rocket Center (Huntsville, Alabama)
- Best Pop Culture Museum: National Comedy Center (Jamestown, New York)
- Best Science Museum: Center of Science and Industry (COSI) (Columbus, Ohio)
- Best Small Town Museum: Pennsylvania Trolley Museum (Washington, Pennsylvania)