VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
The old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river, Tampa
TampaThe old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river

Photos: Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Tampa by Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Los Angeles or Tampa?

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

  • shopping
  • live music and the arts
  • wellness

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

Choose Tampa for

  • prices
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Tampa’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, Tampa 70: Tampa leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Los Angeles 84, Tampa 57: Los Angeles leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Los Angeles 66, Tampa 42: Los Angeles leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Los Angeles 67, Tampa 52: Los Angeles leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Los Angeles 80, Tampa 55: Los Angeles leads by 25 points.
Day trips. Los Angeles 60, Tampa 54: Los Angeles leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Los Angeles 84, Tampa 78: Los Angeles leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Los Angeles 25, Tampa 22: Los Angeles leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Los Angeles 80, Tampa 40: Los Angeles leads by 40 points.
Affordability. Los Angeles 24, Tampa 40: Tampa leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Los Angeles 83, Tampa 47: Los Angeles leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Los Angeles 60, Tampa 30: Los Angeles leads by 30 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Los Angeles
Best match
64match

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

Tampa
49match

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.

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

Tampa in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
197 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Los AngelesTampa

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre). Tampa: 1991-2020 normals, Tampa International Airport (7.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLos AngelesTampa
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 m30 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsTampa International Airport (TPA)8 km from centre101 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureLos AngelesTampa
City population3,898,747384,959
People per km²2,994848
Museums within 10 km396
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone8 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Los Angeles or Tampa 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.