VacationSelector
Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan, New York
New YorkBrooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan
The Winchester Mystery House, San Jose
San JoseThe Winchester Mystery House

Photos: New York by Jakub Hałun, CC BY 4.0, cropped; San Jose by Roxanna Salceda, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

New York or San Jose?

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 York for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

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

Choose San Jose for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on San Jose’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 York 50, San Jose 30: New York leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. New York 92, San Jose 56: New York leads by 36 points.
Culture & sights. New York 89, San Jose 36: New York leads by 53 points.
Nightlife. New York 97, San Jose 33: New York leads by 64 points.
Nature & outdoors. New York 55, San Jose 72: San Jose leads by 17 points.
Day trips. New York 68, San Jose 78: San Jose leads by 10 points.
Good for families. New York 70, San Jose 65: New York leads by 5 points.
Getting around. New York 82, San Jose 30: New York leads by 52 points.
Shopping & style. New York 97, San Jose 48: New York leads by 49 points.
Affordability. New York 12, San Jose 20: San Jose leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. New York 99, San Jose 38: New York leads by 61 points.
Wellness & relaxation. New York 42, San Jose 30: New York leads by 12 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: New York and San Jose.

Your match

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

New York
Best match
71match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts with your weighting.

San Jose
45match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

New York in July

30 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
107 mmrain in the month
22 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

San Jose in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
14 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
New YorkSan Jose

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. New York: 1991-2020 normals, LaGuardia Airport (12.9 km from centre). San Jose: 1991-2020 normals, San Jose / Santa Clara Trailer Village (8.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNew YorkSan Jose
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
Elevation25 m25 m
Main airportJohn F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)21 km from centre189 non-stop destinationsMineta San Jose International Airport (SJC)8 km from centre38 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureNew YorkSan Jose
City population8,804,1901,013,240
People per km²7,2562,167
Museums within 10 km15719
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow New York or San Jose 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.