Atlanta or Philadelphia?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Wins on year-round weather with your weighting.
Wins on museums & heritage and good for families with your weighting.
What matters to you?
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.
The verdict
Choose Atlanta if you want the warmer trip, especially outside summer, when January highs sit near 12°C, and if green space near the centre matters more to you than a dense list of things to see.
Choose Philadelphia if you are travelling for museums, restaurants and walkable sights, with a UNESCO-listed place within day-trip reach and far more protected land around the city.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. Atlanta and Philadelphia are level on 0.
| Atlanta | Philadelphia | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 0 | 0 |
| Swim season months | 0 | 0 |
| Beaches 10 km | 0 | 1 |
| Coast distance | 373 km | 13 km |
| Water distance | — | — |
Places to eat. Philadelphia leads by 18 points.18
| Atlanta | Philadelphia | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 59 | 77 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 739 | 1,714 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 23 | 35 |
Museums & heritage. Philadelphia leads by 25 points.25
| Atlanta | Philadelphia | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 35 | 60 |
| Museums within 10 km | 41 | 89 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 16 | 48 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 39 | 54 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 0 | 1 |
Nightlife. Philadelphia leads by 10 points.10
| Atlanta | Philadelphia | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 49 | 59 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 531 | 930 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 284 | 575 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 53 | 62 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 46 | 41 |
Nature & day trips. Philadelphia leads by 18 points.18
| Atlanta | Philadelphia | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 31 | 49 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | 1 | 14 |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 0 | 0 |
| Land share of disc % | 100 | 89 |
| Park area within 2 km | 113 hectares | 75 hectares |
Good for families. Philadelphia leads by 21 points.21
| Atlanta | Philadelphia | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 32 | 53 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 2 | 16 |
| Park area within 2 km | 113 hectares | 75 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 1 | 4 |
Sights concentration. Philadelphia leads by 14 points.14
| Atlanta | Philadelphia | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 40 | 54 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 39 | 88 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Atlanta and Philadelphia are level on 43.
| Atlanta | Philadelphia | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 43 | 43 |
| Price level global | 100 | 100 |
| Daily budget | — | — |
Year-round weather. Atlanta leads by 7 points.7
| Atlanta | Philadelphia | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 67 | 60 |
| Monthly daytime high | 12 °C to 32 °C | 5.2 °C to 31 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 80 mm to 121 mm | 69 mm to 112 mm |
| Dry months | 0 | 0 |
Where they differ
Philadelphia has about twice as many museums as Atlanta, and a UNESCO-listed place within day-trip reach where Atlanta has none. It also has more restaurants near the centre and a wider range of kitchens, far more tourist attractions near the centre, and more theme parks within reach. Protected land covers 14% of its surroundings against 1% around Atlanta.
Atlanta has about twice as much park space near the centre, and it runs warmer through the year, with January highs near 12°C against Philadelphia's 5°C.
Where they are alike
Neither city is a place to swim. Philadelphia has one beach within reach and Atlanta none, and neither has a month with sea at 21°C or more, so the water plays no part in either trip.
Elsewhere the rhythm is similar: both run hot in July, at 32°C and 31°C, both see rain in every month, none of them at 40mm or less, and each has a comparable number of nightclubs, though Philadelphia's sit closer to the centre.
Which traveller are you?
Anyone travelling for museums and history should go to Philadelphia: about twice as many museums as Atlanta, a UNESCO-listed place within day-trip reach, and roughly twice as many notable places within walking distance of the centre.
Families are also better served in Philadelphia, with far more tourist attractions near the centre and 4 theme parks within reach against Atlanta's 1, though Atlanta has about twice as much park space close to the centre.
A traveller who plans days outdoors and dislikes the cold will prefer Atlanta, which runs warmer all year, with January highs near 12°C; Philadelphia counters with far more protected land for walking beyond the city.
What the numbers don't tell you
The value figure is a national price level, identical for both by construction, so it says nothing about which city costs more. Neither carries a daily budget figure here, so no cost comparison between Atlanta and Philadelphia is possible.
The sunshine figure is missing for Atlanta rather than low, since no nearby station records it, so its monthly picture rests on temperature and rainfall alone and that side of the weather comparison is unmeasured. Rainfall itself never lets up: no month in either city falls to 40mm or less, so even the best months still carry rain, and Atlanta's spring peak sits near 90-99mm.
When should you go?
The figures behind each month. Each row is shaded against that destination's own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that measure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.
Temperature and rainfall are thirty-year climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Atlanta: 1991-2020 normals, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta (29.2 km from centre). Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre).
Atlanta is at its best in April and May, at 23-27°C, and again in September and October, when highs of 29°C ease to 23°C and October brings the year's lightest rain at 80mm. July reaches 32°C with 121mm.
Philadelphia peaks a month later, in May and June at 24-28°C, and holds up through late summer, though September is its wettest month at 112mm. Winter is the clearer split: January highs of 5°C against Atlanta's 12°C, but Philadelphia is drier then, 79mm against 116mm.
Getting there
| Flying from | Atlanta | Philadelphia |
|---|---|---|
| HoustonIAH, HOU | 2 h 0 m no fares ATL · 14 km | 3 h 10 m no fares PHL · 11 km |
| ChicagoORD, MDW, DPA, PWK +1 | 1 h 50 m €161-221 ATL · 14 km | 1 h 55 m no fares PHL · 11 km |
| WashingtonIAD, DCA | 1 h 40 m €84-125 ATL · 14 km | 55 m no fares PHL · 11 km |
| DenverDEN, APA | 2 h 55 m no fares ATL · 14 km | 3 h 35 m no fares PHL · 11 km |
| DallasDFW, DAL, AFW | 2 h 5 m €69-120 ATL · 14 km | 3 h 10 m no fares PHL · 11 km |
| BostonBOS, PSM | 2 h 25 m no fares ATL · 14 km | 1 h 10 m no fares PHL · 11 km |
| TokyoHND, NRT | 13 h 40 m no fares ATL · 14 km | 13 h 30 m €989-1136 JFK · 140 km |
| San JuanSJU, SIG | 3 h 35 m no fares ATL · 14 km | 3 h 40 m €120-131 PHL · 11 km |
| LondonLHR, LGW, STN, LTN +2 | 8 h 35 m no fares ATL · 14 km | 7 h 20 m no fares PHL · 11 km |
| DohaDOH | 14 h 45 m no fares ATL · 14 km | 13 h 30 m no fares PHL · 11 km |
The busiest departure cities for these two, with a place kept for each other part of the world. Busiest means arriving passengers where an official count exists, and where none does, the number of non-stop services flown: official route statistics are published by the European reporting countries and by nobody else, so a table ranked on them alone would offer a reader in New York or Tokyo ten European cities. Flying times are estimated from the distance between airports, and every row is a city flown non-stop to both. Where the typical offer connects anyway, the stops are shown. Under each figure is the airport the flight lands at and how far that is from the centre, because the nearest airport is not always the one a route is flown to. Where both columns name the same airport it is one flight, and the difference between the two is the distance printed beside it. Typical return fares for 2026-08 to 2026-10, cached market data up to 7 days old. The figure is the middle half of the offers found, so a single price means they agreed and a range means they did not; for a typical route that middle half spans about a quarter of the median, and for the least settled routes rather more than the median itself.
Before you go
| Measure | Atlanta | Philadelphia |
|---|---|---|
| Currency | US Dollar (USD) | US Dollar (USD) |
| Sockets | AB120 V, 60 Hz | AB120 V, 60 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer | UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer |
| Emergency number | 911 | 911 |
| Elevation | 225 m | 12 m |
| Main airport | Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)14 km from centre238 non-stop destinations | Philadelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre128 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 12 days | 12 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Atlanta | Philadelphia |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 498,715 | 1,603,797 |
| People per km² | 1,433 | 4,339 |
| Museums within 10 km | 27 | 54 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 0 | 1 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 56 | 75 |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Atlanta or Philadelphia somewhere new.