Philadelphia or Washington DC?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Too close to call, 1 point apart
Wins on good for families and nature & day trips with your weighting.
Wins on sights concentration and beaches & swimming with your weighting.
What matters to you?
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.
The verdict
Choose Philadelphia if you are travelling with children: about twice as many attractions sit near the centre, plus 4 theme parks within reach against 1, and more protected land around the city for days out.
Choose Washington DC if you want to walk between sights: roughly three times as many notable places lie within walking distance of the centre, and the sea reaches 26°C in August.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. Washington DC leads by 18 points.18
| Philadelphia | Washington DC | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 0 | 18 |
| Swim season months | 0 | 3 |
| Beaches 10 km | 1 | 1 |
| Coast distance | 13 km | 34 km |
| Water distance | — | 34 km |
Places to eat. Philadelphia and Washington DC are level on 77.
| Philadelphia | Washington DC | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 77 | 77 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 1,714 | 1,666 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 35 | 36 |
Museums & heritage. Philadelphia leads by 5 points.5
| Philadelphia | Washington DC | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 60 | 55 |
| Museums within 10 km | 89 | 83 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 48 | 55 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 54 | 66 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 1 | 0 |
Nightlife. Washington DC leads by 2 points.2
| Philadelphia | Washington DC | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 59 | 61 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 930 | 1,029 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 575 | 593 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 62 | 58 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 41 | 54 |
Nature & day trips. Philadelphia leads by 7 points.7
| Philadelphia | Washington DC | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 49 | 42 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | 14 | 10 |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 0 | 1 |
| Land share of disc % | 89 | 94 |
| Park area within 2 km | 75 hectares | 96 hectares |
Good for families. Philadelphia leads by 15 points.15
| Philadelphia | Washington DC | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 53 | 38 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 16 | 7 |
| Park area within 2 km | 75 hectares | 96 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 4 | 1 |
Sights concentration. Washington DC leads by 22 points.22
| Philadelphia | Washington DC | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 54 | 76 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 88 | 305 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Philadelphia and Washington DC are level on 43.
| Philadelphia | Washington DC | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 43 | 43 |
| Price level global | 100 | 100 |
| Daily budget | — | — |
Year-round weather. Washington DC leads by 2 points.2
| Philadelphia | Washington DC | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 60 | 62 |
| Monthly daytime high | 5.2 °C to 31 °C | 7 °C to 31.7 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 69 mm to 112 mm | 65 mm to 108 mm |
| Dry months | 0 | 0 |
Where they differ
Philadelphia suits families better. It has about twice as many attractions near the centre and 4 theme parks within reach against 1, and its surroundings are greener, with 14% of the land around the city protected against 10%, plus one UNESCO-listed place within day-trip reach.
Washington DC packs sightseeing more tightly: three times as many notable places within walking distance of the centre, and more park space near the centre. Both have 1 beach nearby, but only Washington DC has sea above 21°C, for three months, peaking at 26°C.
Where they are alike
Eating out is the axis where they are hardest to tell apart. Both have a similar number of restaurants near the centre and a similar range of kitchens, so neither city forces a compromise at dinner.
Their weather runs on the same pattern, highs of 5-31°C in Philadelphia and 7-32°C in Washington DC, and neither has a month at 40mm of rain or less. Drinking venues are similarly plentiful in both, and both hold a comparable number of museums.
Which traveller are you?
Travelling with children: Philadelphia. About twice as many attractions sit near the centre, and 4 theme parks are within reach against 1, though Washington DC has more park space close in.
A two-day sightseeing trip: Washington DC. Roughly three times as many notable places lie within walking distance, and its museums sit tightly around the centre, so little time goes on getting between them.
Weekends outdoors: Philadelphia, with 14% of the surrounding land protected against 10%, and a UNESCO-listed place within day-trip reach. If a swim matters, only Washington DC has sea warm enough, reaching 26°C in August.
What the numbers don't tell you
The two carry the same value figure because it is a national price level, so it says nothing about how one city compares with the other. No daily budget figure exists here for either, so no cost comparison between the two is possible; check prices yourself before booking.
No weather station near Washington DC records sunshine hours, so that figure is missing rather than low, and its monthly ratings rest on temperature, rainfall and sea temperature alone. Its sea reaching 26°C also sits alongside 1 beach and a summer in which both cities pass 100mm a month, so warm water is not the same as an easy beach trip.
When should you go?
The figures behind each month. Each row is shaded against that destination's own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that measure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.
Temperature and rainfall are thirty-year climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre). Washington DC: 1991-2020 normals, Washington National Airport (5 km from centre).
Philadelphia is at its best from May to June, with highs of 24-28°C, and May is the drier of the two cities then, 86mm against 101mm. Its high summer stays warm at 30-31°C but is its wettest stretch.
Washington DC is ahead in April, 20°C against 18°C, and in September, when both sit near 27°C but Philadelphia takes its wettest month at 112mm. August is drier in Washington DC too, 83mm against 109mm, with sea at 26°C.
Getting there
| Flying from | Philadelphia | Washington DC |
|---|---|---|
| AtlantaATL, PDK | 1 h 55 m €60-108 PHL · 11 km | 1 h 40 m €267-307 1 stop DCA · 5 km |
| HoustonIAH, HOU | 3 h 10 m no fares PHL · 11 km | 2 h 55 m no fares DCA · 5 km |
| BostonBOS, PSM | 1 h 10 m no fares PHL · 11 km | 1 h 25 m €162-173 DCA · 5 km |
| ChicagoORD, MDW, DPA, PWK +1 | 1 h 55 m no fares PHL · 11 km | 1 h 50 m €199-215 DCA · 5 km |
| DetroitDTW, DET, YIP | 1 h 30 m no fares PHL · 11 km | 1 h 25 m €226-227 IAD · 37 km |
| Fort LauderdaleFLL, FXE | 2 h 35 m no fares PHL · 11 km | 2 h 20 m €178-223 1 stop DCA · 5 km |
| TokyoHND, NRT | 13 h 30 m €989-1136 JFK · 140 km | 13 h 30 m no fares IAD · 37 km |
| San JuanSJU, SIG | 3 h 40 m €120-131 PHL · 11 km | 3 h 40 m no fares IAD · 37 km |
| LondonLHR, LGW, STN, LTN +2 | 7 h 20 m no fares PHL · 11 km | 7 h 35 m €507-561 1 stop IAD · 37 km |
| DohaDOH | 13 h 30 m no fares PHL · 11 km | 13 h 45 m no fares IAD · 37 km |
The busiest departure cities for these two, with a place kept for each other part of the world. Busiest means arriving passengers where an official count exists, and where none does, the number of non-stop services flown: official route statistics are published by the European reporting countries and by nobody else, so a table ranked on them alone would offer a reader in New York or Tokyo ten European cities. Flying times are estimated from the distance between airports, and every row is a city flown non-stop to both. Where the typical offer connects anyway, the stops are shown. Under each figure is the airport the flight lands at and how far that is from the centre, because the nearest airport is not always the one a route is flown to. Where both columns name the same airport it is one flight, and the difference between the two is the distance printed beside it. Typical return fares for 2026-09 to 2026-10, cached market data up to 7 days old. The figure is the middle half of the offers found, so a single price means they agreed and a range means they did not; for a typical route that middle half spans about a quarter of the median, and for the least settled routes rather more than the median itself.
Before you go
| Measure | Philadelphia | Washington DC |
|---|---|---|
| Currency | US Dollar (USD) | US Dollar (USD) |
| Sockets | AB120 V, 60 Hz | AB120 V, 60 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer | UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer |
| Emergency number | 911 | 911 |
| Elevation | 12 m | 72 m |
| Main airport | Philadelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre128 non-stop destinations | Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)5 km from centre103 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 12 days | 11 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Philadelphia | Washington DC |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 1,603,797 | 689,545 |
| People per km² | 4,339 | 3,896 |
| Museums within 10 km | 54 | 99 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 1 | 0 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 75 | 82 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | – | 3 months |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Philadelphia or Washington DC somewhere new.