VacationSelector
The Texas State Capitol under a blue sky, Austin
AustinThe Texas State Capitol under a blue sky
The Massachusetts State House, Boston
BostonThe Massachusetts State House

Photos: Austin by LoneStarMike, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Boston by Ajay Suresh, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Austin or Boston?

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 Austin for

  • nightlife
  • prices
  • wellness

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

Choose Boston for

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Boston’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. Austin 30, Boston 35: Boston leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Austin 66, Boston 64: Austin leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Austin 40, Boston 72: Boston leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. Austin 65, Boston 47: Austin leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Austin 57, Boston 60: Boston leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Austin 58, Boston 72: Boston leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Austin 55, Boston 72: Boston leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Austin 30, Boston 70: Boston leads by 40 points.
Shopping & style. Austin 45, Boston 55: Boston leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Austin 33, Boston 18: Austin leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Austin 77, Boston 72: Austin leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Austin 40, Boston 30: Austin leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Austin and Boston.

Your match

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

Austin
50match

Wins on nightlife and prices with your weighting.

Boston
Best match
56match

Wins on getting around and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Austin in July

36 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
49 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Boston in July

28 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AustinBoston

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Austin: 1991-2020 normals, Camp Mabry/Austin City Asos (3.7 km from centre). Boston: 1991-2020 normals, Boston Logan International (3.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAustinBoston
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation149 m43 m
Main airportAustin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS)13 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsBoston Logan International Airport (BOS)4 km from centre144 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureAustinBoston
City population961,855675,647
People per km²1,2172,910
Museums within 10 km2151
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 Austin or Boston 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.