VacationSelector
The Texas State Capitol under a blue sky, Austin
AustinThe Texas State Capitol under a blue sky
Camelback Mountain above the city, Scottsdale
ScottsdaleCamelback Mountain above the city

Photos: Austin by LoneStarMike, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Scottsdale by Visitor7, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Austin or Scottsdale?

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

  • live music and the arts
  • beaches
  • food and drink

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

Choose Scottsdale for

  • wellness
  • shopping
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Scottsdale’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, Scottsdale 8: Austin leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Austin 66, Scottsdale 46: Austin leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Austin 40, Scottsdale 38: Austin leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Austin 65, Scottsdale 52: Austin leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Austin 57, Scottsdale 68: Scottsdale leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Austin 58, Scottsdale 50: Austin leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Austin 55, Scottsdale 60: Scottsdale leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Austin 30, Scottsdale 20: Austin leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Austin 45, Scottsdale 60: Scottsdale leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Austin 33, Scottsdale 32: Austin leads by 1 points.
Live music & performing arts. Austin 77, Scottsdale 40: Austin leads by 37 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Austin 40, Scottsdale 72: Scottsdale leads by 32 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Austin and Scottsdale.

Your match

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

Austin
Best match
50match

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

Scottsdale
46match

Wins on wellness 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
14 hdaylight a day

Scottsdale in July

41 °Cdaytime high
29 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AustinScottsdale

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). Scottsdale: 1991-2020 normals, Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAustinScottsdale
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC-7
Emergency number911911
Elevation149 m380 m
Main airportAustin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS)13 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsPhoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)10 km from centre148 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureAustinScottsdale
City population961,855241,361
People per km²1,217-
Museums within 10 km2110
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Austin or Scottsdale 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. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.