VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
The Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo, Mexico City
Mexico CityThe Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo

Photos: Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Mexico City by Oscar Dominguez, Pexels License.

Los Angeles or Mexico City?

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 Los Angeles for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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

Choose Mexico City for

  • prices
  • getting around
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Mexico City’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. Los Angeles 60, Mexico City 5: Los Angeles leads by 55 points.
Food & drink. Los Angeles 84, Mexico City 90: Mexico City leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Los Angeles 66, Mexico City 88: Mexico City leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Los Angeles 67, Mexico City 80: Mexico City leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Los Angeles 80, Mexico City 50: Los Angeles leads by 30 points.
Day trips. Los Angeles 60, Mexico City 75: Mexico City leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Los Angeles 84, Mexico City 58: Los Angeles leads by 26 points.
Getting around. Los Angeles 25, Mexico City 50: Mexico City leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. Los Angeles 80, Mexico City 76: Los Angeles leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Los Angeles 24, Mexico City 75: Mexico City leads by 51 points.
Live music & performing arts. Los Angeles 83, Mexico City 72: Los Angeles leads by 11 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Los Angeles 60, Mexico City 40: Los Angeles leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Los Angeles and Mexico City.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Los Angeles
64match

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

Mexico City
63match

Wins on prices 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.

Los Angeles in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Mexico City in July

25 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
176 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
Los AngelesMexico City

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre). Mexico City: 1991-2020 normals, Mexico Central, D. F. (7.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLos AngelesMexico City
Official language-Spanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number911911
Elevation106 m2,240 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsMexico City Benito Juárez International Airport (MEX)7 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureLos AngelesMexico City
City population3,898,7479,209,944
People per km²2,9946,202
Museums within 10 km39108
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km16
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Los Angeles or Mexico City 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.