VacationSelector
Huntington Beach Pier on a summer day, Huntington Beach
Huntington BeachHuntington Beach Pier on a summer day
The SkyWheel by the beach, Myrtle Beach
Myrtle BeachThe SkyWheel by the beach

Photos: Huntington Beach by Stephen Leonardi, Pexels License; Myrtle Beach by The ed17, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Huntington Beach or Myrtle Beach?

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 Huntington Beach for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • food and drink

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

Choose Myrtle Beach for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Myrtle Beach’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. Huntington Beach 70, Myrtle Beach 84: Myrtle Beach leads by 14 points.
Food & drink. Huntington Beach 46, Myrtle Beach 38: Huntington Beach leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Huntington Beach 14, Myrtle Beach 20: Myrtle Beach leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Huntington Beach 38, Myrtle Beach 42: Myrtle Beach leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Huntington Beach 58, Myrtle Beach 46: Huntington Beach leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Huntington Beach 63, Myrtle Beach 50: Huntington Beach leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Huntington Beach 82, Myrtle Beach 80: Huntington Beach leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Huntington Beach 20, Myrtle Beach 18: Huntington Beach leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Huntington Beach 42, Myrtle Beach 38: Huntington Beach leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Huntington Beach 28, Myrtle Beach 52: Myrtle Beach leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Huntington Beach 33, Myrtle Beach 30: Huntington Beach leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Huntington Beach 36, Myrtle Beach 28: Huntington Beach leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Huntington Beach and Myrtle Beach.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Huntington Beach
44match

Wins on day trips and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Myrtle Beach
44match

Wins on prices 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.

Huntington Beach in July

26 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Myrtle Beach in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
172 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
Huntington BeachMyrtle Beach

Where the figures come from

Myrtle Beach 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. Huntington Beach: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Ana / Paularino (12.3 km from centre). Myrtle Beach: 1971-2000 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Myrtle Beach Air Force Base (5.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHuntington BeachMyrtle Beach
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation12 m8 m
Main airportJohn Wayne Orange County International Airport (SNA)12 km from centre53 non-stop destinationsMyrtle Beach International Airport (MYR)5 km from centre60 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureHuntington BeachMyrtle Beach
City population198,71135,682
People per km²2,406591
Museums within 10 km32
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Huntington Beach or Myrtle Beach 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.