VacationSelector
The Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign, Las Vegas
Las VegasThe Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign
The Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, Wilmington
WilmingtonThe Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge

Photos: Las Vegas by Christian David, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Wilmington by Unexpected Snacks, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Las Vegas or Wilmington?

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 Las Vegas for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

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

Choose Wilmington for

  • beaches
  • families
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Wilmington’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. Las Vegas 10, Wilmington 73: Wilmington leads by 63 points.
Food & drink. Las Vegas 68, Wilmington 48: Las Vegas leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Las Vegas 25, Wilmington 40: Wilmington leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Las Vegas 88, Wilmington 40: Las Vegas leads by 48 points.
Nature & outdoors. Las Vegas 68, Wilmington 58: Las Vegas leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Las Vegas 25, Wilmington 45: Wilmington leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Las Vegas 25, Wilmington 62: Wilmington leads by 37 points.
Getting around. Las Vegas 38, Wilmington 28: Las Vegas leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Las Vegas 64, Wilmington 33: Las Vegas leads by 31 points.
Affordability. Las Vegas 35, Wilmington 42: Wilmington leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Las Vegas 78, Wilmington 40: Las Vegas leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Las Vegas 40, Wilmington 33: Las Vegas leads by 7 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Las Vegas and Wilmington.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Las Vegas
47match

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

Wilmington
45match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Las Vegas in July

40 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
9 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Wilmington in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
174 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Las VegasWilmington

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Las Vegas: 1991-2020 normals, McCarran International Airport (8.5 km from centre). Wilmington: 1991-2020 normals, Wilmington / The Palms Mobile Home Park (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLas VegasWilmington
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
Elevation610 m9 m
Main airportHarry Reid International Airport (LAS)4 km from centre159 non-stop destinationsWilmington International Airport (ILM)5 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureLas VegasWilmington
City population641,903115,451
People per km²1,843839
Museums within 10 km212
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-6 months

Where else could you go?

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