VacationSelector
The steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi, New Orleans
New OrleansThe steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70

Photos: New Orleans by Bernard Spragg, CC0; Seattle by Caio, Pexels License.

New Orleans 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 New Orleans for

  • nightlife
  • food and drink
  • prices

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

Choose Seattle for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • wellness

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. New Orleans 14, Seattle 30: Seattle leads by 16 points.
Food & drink. New Orleans 84, Seattle 66: New Orleans leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. New Orleans 67, Seattle 50: New Orleans leads by 17 points.
Nightlife. New Orleans 85, Seattle 55: New Orleans leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. New Orleans 42, Seattle 87: Seattle leads by 45 points.
Day trips. New Orleans 52, Seattle 55: Seattle leads by 3 points.
Good for families. New Orleans 55, Seattle 64: Seattle leads by 9 points.
Getting around. New Orleans 55, Seattle 60: Seattle leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. New Orleans 54, Seattle 52: New Orleans leads by 2 points.
Affordability. New Orleans 40, Seattle 22: New Orleans leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. New Orleans 80, Seattle 70: New Orleans leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. New Orleans 25, Seattle 40: Seattle leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: New Orleans and Seattle.

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

New Orleans
54match

Wins on nightlife and food and drink 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.

New Orleans in July

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

Seattle in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
15 mmrain in the month
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
New OrleansSeattle

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. New Orleans: 1991-2020 normals, New Orleans Airport (2.7 km from centre). Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNew OrleansSeattle
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation-2 m40 m
Main airportLouis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY)18 km from centre51 non-stop destinationsSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureNew OrleansSeattle
City population383,997737,015
People per km²4231,996
Museums within 10 km1627
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C7 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

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