VacationSelector
Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan, New York
New YorkBrooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: New York by Jakub Hałun, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

New York or Santa Monica?

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

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

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

Choose Santa Monica for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Monica’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, Santa Monica 66: Santa Monica leads by 16 points.
Food & drink. New York 92, Santa Monica 60: New York leads by 32 points.
Culture & sights. New York 89, Santa Monica 35: New York leads by 54 points.
Nightlife. New York 97, Santa Monica 38: New York leads by 59 points.
Nature & outdoors. New York 55, Santa Monica 72: Santa Monica leads by 17 points.
Day trips. New York 68, Santa Monica 64: New York leads by 4 points.
Good for families. New York and Santa Monica are level on 70.
Getting around. New York 82, Santa Monica 52: New York leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. New York 97, Santa Monica 56: New York leads by 41 points.
Affordability. New York 12, Santa Monica 14: Santa Monica leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. New York 99, Santa Monica 38: New York leads by 61 points.
Wellness & relaxation. New York 42, Santa Monica 45: Santa Monica leads by 3 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

New York
Best match
71match

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

Santa Monica
51match

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 York in July

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

Santa Monica in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
New YorkSanta Monica

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. New York: 1991-2020 normals, LaGuardia Airport (12.9 km from centre). Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNew YorkSanta Monica
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 m32 m
Main airportJohn F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)21 km from centre189 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureNew YorkSanta Monica
City population8,804,19093,076
People per km²7,2564,270
Museums within 10 km15719
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
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 Santa Monica 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.