VacationSelector
The steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi, New Orleans
New OrleansThe steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi
The Assembly Hall on Temple Square, Salt Lake City
Salt Lake CityThe Assembly Hall on Temple Square

Photos: New Orleans by Bernard Spragg, CC0; Salt Lake City by hakkun, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

New Orleans or Salt Lake City?

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 New Orleans for

  • nightlife
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Salt Lake City for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Salt Lake City’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. New Orleans 14, Salt Lake City 12: New Orleans leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. New Orleans 84, Salt Lake City 40: New Orleans leads by 44 points.
Culture & sights. New Orleans 67, Salt Lake City 42: New Orleans leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. New Orleans 85, Salt Lake City 30: New Orleans leads by 55 points.
Nature & outdoors. New Orleans 42, Salt Lake City 90: Salt Lake City leads by 48 points.
Day trips. New Orleans 52, Salt Lake City 34: New Orleans leads by 18 points.
Good for families. New Orleans 55, Salt Lake City 72: Salt Lake City leads by 17 points.
Getting around. New Orleans 55, Salt Lake City 42: New Orleans leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. New Orleans 54, Salt Lake City 36: New Orleans leads by 18 points.
Affordability. New Orleans and Salt Lake City are level on 40.
Live music & performing arts. New Orleans 80, Salt Lake City 55: New Orleans leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. New Orleans 25, Salt Lake City 38: Salt Lake City leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: New Orleans and Salt Lake City.

Your match

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

New Orleans
Best match
54match

Wins on nightlife and food and drink with your weighting.

Salt Lake City
44match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

New Orleans in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
169 mmrain in the month
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Salt Lake City in July

34 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
New OrleansSalt Lake City

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. New Orleans: 1991-2020 normals, New Orleans Airport (2.7 km from centre). Salt Lake City: 1991-2020 normals, Salt Lake City International Airport (7.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNew OrleansSalt Lake City
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC-7, UTC-6 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation-2 m1,288 m
Main airportLouis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY)18 km from centre51 non-stop destinationsSalt Lake City International Airport (SLC)9 km from centre108 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureNew OrleansSalt Lake City
City population383,997199,723
People per km²423690
Museums within 10 km1612
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C7 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow New Orleans or Salt Lake City 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.