Obama Museum Sets Records, Including How Much It’ll Cost You To Get In

Visitors to the Obama Presidential Center Museum when it opens in Chicago this summer can expect to pay more for admission than any other presidential library.

A new report from the Wall Street Journal found that the $30 adult ticket price for entry into the Obama museum is more than any other presidential museum and 59% higher than the average price for all presidents since John F. Kennedy.

The museum, which is set to open on June 19, will charge $30 for adults (including kids age 12 and up), $23 for kids between the ages of 3 and 11, $26 for adult residents of Illinois, and $15 for children residents of Illinois.

Illinois residents will be required to “show proof of residency at the Museum with a valid photo ID, Illinois driver’s license, state ID, or city-issued ID.” That requirement has been mocked by critics who noted that the Democrat Party has aggresively opposed ID requirements for voting.

“Our campus is free and open to the public, with the exception of the four floors of the museum,” foundation spokeswoman Emily Bittner told the Journal. “We offer tremendous new amenities that no other presidential center provides, like an NBA-regulation-size basketball court, two-level playground, recording studio, classroom spaces and more than two dozen newly commissioned pieces of public art.”

Ticket prices for other presidential libraries vary widely with costs ranging from $29 to visit Richard Nixon’s center to $12 for Jimmy Carter. Other prices include $26 for George W. Bush, $25 for Ronald Reagan, $24 for John F. Kennedy, $16 for Lyndon Johnson, $14 for Gerald Ford, $12 for Bill Clinton, and $12 for George H.W. Bush.

In addition to the costliest entry price, the Obama museum set records for the amount time it took to be completed and total project cost, the Journal reported. The presidential center, which sprawls over 19 acres, cost over $850 million to construct, well over the initial estimate of $300 million. In comparison, around $500 million was raised for the George W. Bush presidential center.

The Journal also found that Obama’s library is set to open 3,427 days after he left office. The next longest gap between opening a library and leaving office is 1,751 for George H.W. Bush.

Former President Joe Biden has so far struggled to raise money for his presidential center while plans have already commenced for President Donald Trump’s library, which is set to be constructed on the waterfront in Miami, Florida.

The design for Trump’s library comes from the renowned Miami-based architecture firm Bermello Ajamil, a Woolpert Company. It includes a single tower stretched tall above the Miami skyline and features a base large enough to accommodate a presidential jet on the main floor.