VacationSelector
The Georgia State Capitol, Atlanta
AtlantaThe Georgia State Capitol
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70

Photos: Atlanta by DXR, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Seattle by Caio, Pexels License.

Atlanta or Seattle?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Atlanta for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Atlanta’s own page.

Choose Seattle for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Seattle’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Atlanta 10, Seattle 30: Seattle leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Atlanta 68, Seattle 66: Atlanta leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Atlanta 55, Seattle 50: Atlanta leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Atlanta 65, Seattle 55: Atlanta leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Atlanta 60, Seattle 87: Seattle leads by 27 points.
Day trips. Atlanta 52, Seattle 55: Seattle leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Atlanta 70, Seattle 64: Atlanta leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Atlanta 28, Seattle 60: Seattle leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Atlanta 50, Seattle 52: Seattle leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Atlanta 40, Seattle 22: Atlanta leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Atlanta 62, Seattle 70: Seattle leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Atlanta 33, Seattle 40: Seattle leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Atlanta and Seattle.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Atlanta
49match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

Seattle
Best match
54match

Wins on getting around and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Atlanta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
120 mmrain in the month
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Seattle in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
15 mmrain in the month
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
AtlantaSeattle

Where the figures come from

Atlanta has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Atlanta: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Atlanta / Carroll Heights (12.5 km from centre). Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAtlantaSeattle
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation225 m40 m
Main airportHartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)14 km from centre238 non-stop destinationsSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAtlantaSeattle
City population498,715737,015
People per km²1,4331,996
Museums within 10 km2727
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Atlanta or Seattle somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.