VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo, Mexico City
Mexico CityThe Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70

Photos: Mexico City by Oscar Dominguez, Pexels License; Seattle by Caio, Pexels License.

Mexico City or Seattle?

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 Mexico City for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Mexico City’s own page.

Choose Seattle for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Seattle’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. Mexico City 5, Seattle 30: Seattle leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Mexico City 90, Seattle 66: Mexico City leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Mexico City 88, Seattle 50: Mexico City leads by 38 points.
Nightlife. Mexico City 80, Seattle 55: Mexico City leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Mexico City 50, Seattle 87: Seattle leads by 37 points.
Day trips. Mexico City 75, Seattle 55: Mexico City leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Mexico City 58, Seattle 64: Seattle leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Mexico City 50, Seattle 60: Seattle leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Mexico City 76, Seattle 52: Mexico City leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Mexico City 75, Seattle 22: Mexico City leads by 53 points.
Live music & performing arts. Mexico City 72, Seattle 70: Mexico City leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Mexico City and Seattle are level on 40.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Mexico City and Seattle.

Your match

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

Mexico City
Best match
63match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Seattle
54match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

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

Seattle in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
15 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
Mexico CitySeattle

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Mexico City: 1991-2020 normals, Mexico Central, D. F. (7.9 km from centre). Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMexico CitySeattle
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya-
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation2,240 m40 m
Main airportMexico City Benito Juárez International Airport (MEX)7 km from centre109 non-stop destinationsSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureMexico CitySeattle
City population9,209,944737,015
People per km²6,2021,996
Museums within 10 km10827
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km60
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

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