VacationSelector
The skyline and the Rocky Mountains over City Park and Ferril Lake, Denver
DenverThe skyline and the Rocky Mountains over City Park and Ferril Lake
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Denver by Zenhaus, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Denver 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 Denver for

  • getting around
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Los Angeles for

  • beaches
  • shopping
  • food and drink

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. Denver 5, Los Angeles 60: Los Angeles leads by 55 points.
Food & drink. Denver 54, Los Angeles 84: Los Angeles leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Denver 44, Los Angeles 66: Los Angeles leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Denver 47, Los Angeles 67: Los Angeles leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Denver 84, Los Angeles 80: Denver leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Denver 57, Los Angeles 60: Los Angeles leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Denver 67, Los Angeles 84: Los Angeles leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Denver 40, Los Angeles 25: Denver leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Denver 44, Los Angeles 80: Los Angeles leads by 36 points.
Affordability. Denver 36, Los Angeles 24: Denver leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Denver 66, Los Angeles 83: Los Angeles leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Denver 40, Los Angeles 60: Los Angeles leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Denver and Los Angeles.

Your match

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

Denver
49match

Wins on getting around and prices with your weighting.

Los Angeles
Best match
64match

Wins on beaches 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.

Denver in July

32 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
55 mmrain in the month
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Los Angeles in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
DenverLos Angeles

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Denver: 1991-2020 normals, Denver / Stapleton International, Co. (11.2 km from centre). Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDenverLos Angeles
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-7, UTC-6 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation1,609 m106 m
Main airportDenver International Airport (DEN)30 km from centre231 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureDenverLos Angeles
City population715,5223,898,747
People per km²1,7832,994
Museums within 10 km2639
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

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