VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
The US Capitol, Washington DC
Washington DCThe US Capitol

Photos: Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Washington DC by Guohua Song, Pexels License.

Los Angeles or Washington DC?

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
  • wellness
  • shopping

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

Choose Washington DC for

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Washington DC’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, Washington DC 12: Los Angeles leads by 48 points.
Food & drink. Los Angeles 84, Washington DC 67: Los Angeles leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Los Angeles 66, Washington DC 84: Washington DC leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Los Angeles 67, Washington DC 57: Los Angeles leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Los Angeles 80, Washington DC 64: Los Angeles leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Los Angeles 60, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Los Angeles 84, Washington DC 73: Los Angeles leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Los Angeles 25, Washington DC 72: Washington DC leads by 47 points.
Shopping & style. Los Angeles 80, Washington DC 52: Los Angeles leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Los Angeles 24, Washington DC 28: Washington DC leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Los Angeles 83, Washington DC 67: Los Angeles leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Los Angeles 60, Washington DC 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 Washington DC.

Your match

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

Los Angeles
Best match
64match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

Washington DC
56match

Wins on getting around and culture and sights 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
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Washington DC in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
108 mmrain in the month
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
Los AngelesWashington DC

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre). Washington DC: 1991-2020 normals, Washington National Airport (5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLos AngelesWashington DC
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 m72 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsRonald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)5 km from centre105 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureLos AngelesWashington DC
City population3,898,747689,545
People per km²2,9943,896
Museums within 10 km3998
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Los Angeles or Washington DC 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.