VacationSelector
Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan, New York
New YorkBrooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan
The old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river, Tampa
TampaThe old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river

Photos: New York by Jakub Hałun, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Tampa by Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

New York or Tampa?

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

  • getting around
  • shopping
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Tampa for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Tampa’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, Tampa 70: Tampa leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. New York 92, Tampa 57: New York leads by 35 points.
Culture & sights. New York 89, Tampa 42: New York leads by 47 points.
Nightlife. New York 97, Tampa 52: New York leads by 45 points.
Nature & outdoors. New York and Tampa are level on 55.
Day trips. New York 68, Tampa 54: New York leads by 14 points.
Good for families. New York 70, Tampa 78: Tampa leads by 8 points.
Getting around. New York 82, Tampa 22: New York leads by 60 points.
Shopping & style. New York 97, Tampa 40: New York leads by 57 points.
Affordability. New York 12, Tampa 40: Tampa leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. New York 99, Tampa 47: New York leads by 52 points.
Wellness & relaxation. New York 42, Tampa 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 Tampa.

Your match

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

New York
Best match
71match

Wins on getting around and shopping with your weighting.

Tampa
49match

Wins on prices 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
No recordsunshine a day
22 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Tampa in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
197 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
New YorkTampa

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. New York: 1991-2020 normals, LaGuardia Airport (12.9 km from centre). Tampa: 1991-2020 normals, Tampa International Airport (7.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNew YorkTampa
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation25 m30 m
Main airportJohn F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)21 km from centre189 non-stop destinationsTampa International Airport (TPA)8 km from centre101 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureNew YorkTampa
City population8,804,190384,959
People per km²7,256848
Museums within 10 km1576
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months8 months

Where else could you go?

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