diff --git a/pandas/io/json/json.py b/pandas/io/json/json.py
index 1627b2f4d3ec3..641265a95e93b 100644
--- a/pandas/io/json/json.py
+++ b/pandas/io/json/json.py
@@ -706,10 +706,10 @@ def _try_convert_data(self, name, data, use_dtypes=True,
                 except (TypeError, ValueError):
                     pass
 
-        # do't coerce 0-len data
-        if len(data) and (data.dtype == 'float' or data.dtype == 'object'):
+        # don't coerce 0-len data
+        if len(data) and (data.dtype == 'object'):
 
-            # coerce ints if we can
+            # coerce int if we can
             try:
                 new_data = data.astype('int64')
                 if (new_data == data).all():
@@ -721,13 +721,23 @@ def _try_convert_data(self, name, data, use_dtypes=True,
         # coerce ints to 64
         if data.dtype == 'int':
 
-            # coerce floats to 64
+            # coerce ints to 64
             try:
                 data = data.astype('int64')
                 result = True
             except (TypeError, ValueError):
                 pass
 
+        # coerce floats to 64
+        if data.dtype == 'float':
+
+            # coerce floats to 64
+            try:
+                data = data.astype('float64')
+                result = True
+            except (TypeError, ValueError):
+                pass
+
         return data, result
 
     def _try_convert_to_date(self, data):