VacationSelector
The Texas State Capitol under a blue sky, Austin
AustinThe Texas State Capitol under a blue sky
The US Capitol, Washington DC
Washington DCThe US Capitol

Photos: Austin by LoneStarMike, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Washington DC by Guohua Song, Pexels License.

Austin or Washington DC?

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

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Washington DC for

  • culture and sights
  • getting around
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Washington DC’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, Washington DC 12: Austin leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Austin 66, Washington DC 67: Washington DC leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Austin 40, Washington DC 84: Washington DC leads by 44 points.
Nightlife. Austin 65, Washington DC 57: Austin leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Austin 57, Washington DC 64: Washington DC leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Austin 58, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Austin 55, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Austin 30, Washington DC 72: Washington DC leads by 42 points.
Shopping & style. Austin 45, Washington DC 52: Washington DC leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Austin 33, Washington DC 28: Austin leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Austin 77, Washington DC 67: Austin leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Austin 40, Washington DC 26: Austin leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Austin and Washington DC.

Your match

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

Austin
50match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

Washington DC
Best match
56match

Wins on culture and sights and getting around 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

Washington DC in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
108 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AustinWashington DC

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). Washington DC: 1991-2020 normals, Washington National Airport (5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAustinWashington DC
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 m72 m
Main airportAustin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS)13 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsRonald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)5 km from centre105 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAustinWashington DC
City population961,855689,545
People per km²1,2173,896
Museums within 10 km2198
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Washington DC 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.