VacationSelector
The Massachusetts State House, Boston
BostonThe Massachusetts State House
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Boston by Ajay Suresh, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Boston or Los Angeles?

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 Boston for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Los Angeles for

  • wellness
  • beaches
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Los Angeles’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. Boston 35, Los Angeles 60: Los Angeles leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Boston 64, Los Angeles 84: Los Angeles leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Boston 72, Los Angeles 66: Boston leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Boston 47, Los Angeles 67: Los Angeles leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Boston 60, Los Angeles 80: Los Angeles leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Boston 72, Los Angeles 60: Boston leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Boston 72, Los Angeles 84: Los Angeles leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Boston 70, Los Angeles 25: Boston leads by 45 points.
Shopping & style. Boston 55, Los Angeles 80: Los Angeles leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Boston 18, Los Angeles 24: Los Angeles leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Boston 72, Los Angeles 83: Los Angeles leads by 11 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Boston 30, Los Angeles 60: Los Angeles leads by 30 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Boston and Los Angeles.

Your match

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

Boston
56match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

Los Angeles
Best match
64match

Wins on wellness and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Boston in July

28 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Los Angeles in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
BostonLos Angeles

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Boston: 1991-2020 normals, Boston Logan International (3.5 km from centre). Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBostonLos Angeles
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation43 m106 m
Main airportBoston Logan International Airport (BOS)4 km from centre144 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureBostonLos Angeles
City population675,6473,898,747
People per km²2,9102,994
Museums within 10 km5139
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Boston or Los Angeles 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.