VacationSelector
Clearwater Beach in evening light, with its hotels and pier, Clearwater
ClearwaterClearwater Beach in evening light, with its hotels and pier
The arch at the entrance to the boardwalk, Ocean City, Maryland
Ocean City, MarylandThe arch at the entrance to the boardwalk

Photos: Clearwater by ajay_suresh, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Ocean City, Maryland by Dough4872, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Clearwater or Ocean City, Maryland?

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 Clearwater for

  • live music and the arts
  • wellness
  • day trips

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

Choose Ocean City, Maryland for

  • nightlife
  • getting around
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Ocean City, Maryland’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. Clearwater 90, Ocean City, Maryland 78: Clearwater leads by 12 points.
Food & drink. Clearwater 38, Ocean City, Maryland 40: Ocean City, Maryland leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Clearwater 18, Ocean City, Maryland 14: Clearwater leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Clearwater 34, Ocean City, Maryland 45: Ocean City, Maryland leads by 11 points.
Nature & outdoors. Clearwater 55, Ocean City, Maryland 50: Clearwater leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Clearwater 58, Ocean City, Maryland 42: Clearwater leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Clearwater and Ocean City, Maryland are level on 78.
Getting around. Clearwater 28, Ocean City, Maryland 34: Ocean City, Maryland leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Clearwater 27, Ocean City, Maryland 24: Clearwater leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Clearwater 35, Ocean City, Maryland 40: Ocean City, Maryland leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Clearwater 36, Ocean City, Maryland 18: Clearwater leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Clearwater 40, Ocean City, Maryland 22: Clearwater leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Clearwater and Ocean City, Maryland.

Your match

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

Clearwater
Best match
45match

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

Ocean City, Maryland
40match

Wins on nightlife 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.

Clearwater in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
188 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Ocean City, Maryland in July

29 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
96 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ClearwaterOcean City, Maryland

Where the figures come from

Clearwater has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Clearwater's sunshine is measured 26 km from the centre, at Tampa International Airport.

Ocean City, Maryland has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Clearwater: 2006-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Saint Petersburg / High Point (12.7 km from centre). Ocean City, Maryland: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Ocean City / Morris Mobile Home Park (10.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureClearwaterOcean City, Maryland
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation9 m2 m
Main airportSt. Petersburg Clearwater International Airport (PIE)13 km from centre60 non-stop destinationsSalisbury Ocean City Wicomico Regional Airport (SBY)39 km from centre4 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureClearwaterOcean City, Maryland
City population117,2926,844
People per km²1,15473
Museums within 10 km40
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C8 months3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Clearwater or Ocean City, Maryland 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.