VacationSelector
The Texas State Capitol under a blue sky, Austin
AustinThe Texas State Capitol under a blue sky
The Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, Wilmington
WilmingtonThe Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge

Photos: Austin by LoneStarMike, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Wilmington by Unexpected Snacks, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Austin or Wilmington?

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
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

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

Choose Wilmington for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Wilmington’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, Wilmington 73: Wilmington leads by 43 points.
Food & drink. Austin 66, Wilmington 48: Austin leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Austin and Wilmington are level on 40.
Nightlife. Austin 65, Wilmington 40: Austin leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Austin 57, Wilmington 58: Wilmington leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Austin 58, Wilmington 45: Austin leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Austin 55, Wilmington 62: Wilmington leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Austin 30, Wilmington 28: Austin leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Austin 45, Wilmington 33: Austin leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Austin 33, Wilmington 42: Wilmington leads by 9 points.
Live music & performing arts. Austin 77, Wilmington 40: Austin leads by 37 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Austin 40, Wilmington 33: Austin leads by 7 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Austin and Wilmington.

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 nightlife with your weighting.

Wilmington
45match

Wins on beaches and prices 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

Wilmington in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
174 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AustinWilmington

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). Wilmington: 1991-2020 normals, Wilmington / The Palms Mobile Home Park (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAustinWilmington
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 m9 m
Main airportAustin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS)13 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsWilmington International Airport (ILM)5 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureAustinWilmington
City population961,855115,451
People per km²1,217839
Museums within 10 km212
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-6 months

Where else could you go?

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