VacationSelector
Huntington Beach Pier on a summer day, Huntington Beach
Huntington BeachHuntington Beach Pier on a summer day
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill

Photos: Huntington Beach by Stephen Leonardi, Pexels License; Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License.

Huntington Beach or Philadelphia?

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

  • beaches
  • families
  • wellness

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

Choose Philadelphia for

  • culture and sights
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Philadelphia’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, Philadelphia 36: Huntington Beach leads by 34 points.
Food & drink. Huntington Beach 46, Philadelphia 62: Philadelphia leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Huntington Beach 14, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 58 points.
Nightlife. Huntington Beach 38, Philadelphia 55: Philadelphia leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Huntington Beach 58, Philadelphia 52: Huntington Beach leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Huntington Beach 63, Philadelphia 80: Philadelphia leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Huntington Beach 82, Philadelphia 68: Huntington Beach leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Huntington Beach 20, Philadelphia 66: Philadelphia leads by 46 points.
Shopping & style. Huntington Beach 42, Philadelphia 57: Philadelphia leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Huntington Beach 28, Philadelphia 40: Philadelphia leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Huntington Beach 33, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 39 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Huntington Beach 36, Philadelphia 26: Huntington Beach leads by 10 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Huntington Beach and Philadelphia.

Your match

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

Huntington Beach
44match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Philadelphia
Best match
57match

Wins on culture and sights 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.

Huntington Beach in July

26 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Philadelphia in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
Huntington BeachPhiladelphia

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Huntington Beach: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Ana / Paularino (12.3 km from centre). Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHuntington BeachPhiladelphia
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 m12 m
Main airportJohn Wayne Orange County International Airport (SNA)12 km from centre53 non-stop destinationsPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureHuntington BeachPhiladelphia
City population198,7111,603,797
People per km²2,4064,339
Museums within 10 km354
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

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