VacationSelector
The Texas State Capitol under a blue sky, Austin
AustinThe Texas State Capitol under a blue sky
Waterfront houses on Harbor Island in Newport Harbor, Newport Beach
Newport BeachWaterfront houses on Harbor Island in Newport Harbor

Photos: Austin by LoneStarMike, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Newport Beach by Don Ramey Logan, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Austin or Newport Beach?

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
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Newport Beach for

  • beaches
  • families
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Newport Beach’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, Newport Beach 70: Newport Beach leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Austin 66, Newport Beach 50: Austin leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Austin 40, Newport Beach 20: Austin leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Austin 65, Newport Beach 33: Austin leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Austin 57, Newport Beach 66: Newport Beach leads by 9 points.
Day trips. Austin 58, Newport Beach 70: Newport Beach leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Austin 55, Newport Beach 80: Newport Beach leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Austin 30, Newport Beach 20: Austin leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Austin 45, Newport Beach 62: Newport Beach leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Austin 33, Newport Beach 15: Austin leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Austin 77, Newport Beach 46: Austin leads by 31 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Austin 40, Newport Beach 44: Newport Beach leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Austin and Newport Beach.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Austin
50match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Newport Beach
48match

Wins on beaches and families 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

Newport Beach in July

26 °Cdaytime high
19 °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
AustinNewport Beach

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). Newport Beach: 1991-2020 (rainfall 1981-2010) normals, Santa Ana / Paularino (7.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAustinNewport Beach
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 m3 m
Main airportAustin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS)13 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsJohn Wayne Orange County International Airport (SNA)7 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAustinNewport Beach
City population961,85585,239
People per km²1,217622
Museums within 10 km214
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 Newport Beach 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.