VacationSelector
The Texas State Capitol under a blue sky, Austin
AustinThe Texas State Capitol under a blue sky
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Austin by LoneStarMike, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Austin or Los Angeles?

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

  • prices
  • getting around

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

Choose Los Angeles for

  • shopping
  • beaches
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Los Angeles’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, Los Angeles 60: Los Angeles leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Austin 66, Los Angeles 84: Los Angeles leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Austin 40, Los Angeles 66: Los Angeles leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Austin 65, Los Angeles 67: Los Angeles leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Austin 57, Los Angeles 80: Los Angeles leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Austin 58, Los Angeles 60: Los Angeles leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Austin 55, Los Angeles 84: Los Angeles leads by 29 points.
Getting around. Austin 30, Los Angeles 25: Austin leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Austin 45, Los Angeles 80: Los Angeles leads by 35 points.
Affordability. Austin 33, Los Angeles 24: Austin leads by 9 points.
Live music & performing arts. Austin 77, Los Angeles 83: Los Angeles leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Austin 40, Los Angeles 60: Los Angeles leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Austin and Los Angeles.

Your match

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

Austin
50match

Wins on prices and getting around with your weighting.

Los Angeles
Best match
64match

Wins on shopping and beaches 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

Los Angeles in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AustinLos Angeles

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). Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAustinLos Angeles
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation149 m106 m
Main airportAustin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS)13 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAustinLos Angeles
City population961,8553,898,747
People per km²1,2172,994
Museums within 10 km2139
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Los Angeles 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.