VacationSelector
The Texas State Capitol under a blue sky, Austin
AustinThe Texas State Capitol under a blue sky
Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan, New York
New YorkBrooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan

Photos: Austin by LoneStarMike, CC BY 3.0, cropped; New York by Jakub Hałun, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Austin or New York?

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
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose New York for

  • getting around
  • shopping
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on New York’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, New York 50: New York leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Austin 66, New York 92: New York leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Austin 40, New York 89: New York leads by 49 points.
Nightlife. Austin 65, New York 97: New York leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Austin 57, New York 55: Austin leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Austin 58, New York 68: New York leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Austin 55, New York 70: New York leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Austin 30, New York 82: New York leads by 52 points.
Shopping & style. Austin 45, New York 97: New York leads by 52 points.
Affordability. Austin 33, New York 12: Austin leads by 21 points.
Live music & performing arts. Austin 77, New York 99: New York leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Austin 40, New York 42: New York leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Austin and New York.

Your match

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

Austin
50match

Wins on prices and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

New York
Best match
71match

Wins on getting around and shopping 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

New York in July

30 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
107 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
22 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AustinNew York

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). New York: 1991-2020 normals, LaGuardia Airport (12.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAustinNew York
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 m25 m
Main airportAustin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS)13 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsJohn F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)21 km from centre189 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAustinNew York
City population961,8558,804,190
People per km²1,2177,256
Museums within 10 km21157
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C-3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Austin or New York 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.