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
Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan, New York
New YorkBrooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan

Photos: Denver by Zenhaus, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; New York by Jakub Hałun, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Denver or New York?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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

Choose New York for

  • shopping
  • nightlife
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on New York’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, New York 50: New York leads by 45 points.
Food & drink. Denver 54, New York 92: New York leads by 38 points.
Culture & sights. Denver 44, New York 89: New York leads by 45 points.
Nightlife. Denver 47, New York 97: New York leads by 50 points.
Nature & outdoors. Denver 84, New York 55: Denver leads by 29 points.
Day trips. Denver 57, New York 68: New York leads by 11 points.
Good for families. Denver 67, New York 70: New York leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Denver 40, New York 82: New York leads by 42 points.
Shopping & style. Denver 44, New York 97: New York leads by 53 points.
Affordability. Denver 36, New York 12: Denver leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Denver 66, New York 99: New York leads by 33 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Denver 40, New York 42: New York leads by 2 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Denver and New York.

Your match

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

Denver
49match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and prices with your weighting.

New York
Best match
71match

Wins on shopping and nightlife 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

New York in July

30 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
107 mmrain in the month
22 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
DenverNew York

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Denver: 1991-2020 normals, Denver / Stapleton International, Co. (11.2 km from centre). New York: 1991-2020 normals, LaGuardia Airport (12.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDenverNew York
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-7, UTC-6 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation1,609 m25 m
Main airportDenver International Airport (DEN)30 km from centre231 non-stop destinationsJohn F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)21 km from centre189 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureDenverNew York
City population715,5228,804,190
People per km²1,7837,256
Museums within 10 km26157
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
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 Denver or New York 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.