VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill

Photos: Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License.

Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

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

Choose Philadelphia for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • prices

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. Los Angeles 60, Philadelphia 36: Los Angeles leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. Los Angeles 84, Philadelphia 62: Los Angeles leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Los Angeles 66, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Los Angeles 67, Philadelphia 55: Los Angeles leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Los Angeles 80, Philadelphia 52: Los Angeles leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Los Angeles 60, Philadelphia 80: Philadelphia leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Los Angeles 84, Philadelphia 68: Los Angeles leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Los Angeles 25, Philadelphia 66: Philadelphia leads by 41 points.
Shopping & style. Los Angeles 80, Philadelphia 57: Los Angeles leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Los Angeles 24, Philadelphia 40: Philadelphia leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Los Angeles 83, Philadelphia 72: Los Angeles leads by 11 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Los Angeles 60, Philadelphia 26: Los Angeles leads by 34 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Los Angeles
Best match
64match

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

Philadelphia
57match

Wins on getting around and day trips 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

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
Los AngelesPhiladelphia

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre). Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLos AngelesPhiladelphia
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
Elevation106 m12 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureLos AngelesPhiladelphia
City population3,898,7471,603,797
People per km²2,9944,339
Museums within 10 km3954
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.