VacationSelector
A lifeguard stand on South Beach, Miami
MiamiA lifeguard stand on South Beach
The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
San FranciscoThe Golden Gate Bridge

Photos: Miami by Radomianin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; San Francisco by Elijah Cobb, Pexels License.

Miami or San Francisco?

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 Miami for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • shopping

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

Choose San Francisco for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on San Francisco’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. Miami 90, San Francisco 25: Miami leads by 65 points.
Food & drink. Miami 72, San Francisco 82: San Francisco leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Miami 57, San Francisco 68: San Francisco leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Miami 82, San Francisco 58: Miami leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Miami 64, San Francisco 80: San Francisco leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Miami 42, San Francisco 72: San Francisco leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Miami 64, San Francisco 66: San Francisco leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Miami 35, San Francisco 70: San Francisco leads by 35 points.
Shopping & style. Miami 71, San Francisco 58: Miami leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Miami 27, San Francisco 14: Miami leads by 13 points.
Live music & performing arts. Miami 55, San Francisco 76: San Francisco leads by 21 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Miami 44, San Francisco 42: Miami leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Miami and San Francisco.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Miami
59match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

San Francisco
59match

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.

Miami in July

33 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
186 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

San Francisco in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
13 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
MiamiSan Francisco

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Miami: 1991-2020 normals, Miami International Airport (10 km from centre). San Francisco: 1981-2010 normals, Alameda Naval Air Station (9.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMiamiSan Francisco
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation2 m16 m
Main airportMiami International Airport (MIA)7 km from centre198 non-stop destinationsSan Francisco International Airport (SFO)18 km from centre142 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureMiamiSan Francisco
City population442,241873,965
People per km²3,0461,455
Museums within 10 km1751
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Miami or San Francisco 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.