VacationSelector
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill
York Minster from the city walls, York
YorkYork Minster from the city walls

Photos: Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License; York by PAUL FARMER, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Philadelphia or York?

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 Philadelphia for

  • live music and the arts
  • beaches
  • food and drink

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

Choose York for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on York’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. Philadelphia 36, York 14: Philadelphia leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Philadelphia 62, York 42: Philadelphia leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Philadelphia 72, York 70: Philadelphia leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Philadelphia 55, York 36: Philadelphia leads by 19 points.
Nature & outdoors. Philadelphia 52, York 62: York leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Philadelphia and York are level on 80.
Good for families. Philadelphia 68, York 60: Philadelphia leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Philadelphia 66, York 72: York leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Philadelphia 57, York 46: Philadelphia leads by 11 points.
Affordability. Philadelphia 40, York 38: Philadelphia leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Philadelphia 72, York 38: Philadelphia leads by 34 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Philadelphia 26, York 34: York leads by 8 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Philadelphia
Best match
57match

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

York
49match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Philadelphia in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

York in July

21 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
62 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
PhiladelphiaYork

Where the figures come from

York has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

York's sunshine is measured 48 km from the centre, at Leeming.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre). York: 1991-2020 normals, Linton-On-Ouse (14.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhiladelphiaYork
Official language-English
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Pound Sterling (GBP)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number911112 or 999
Elevation12 m25 m
Main airportPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinationsLeeds Bradford Airport (LBA)39 km from centre69 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days8 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhiladelphiaYork
City population1,603,797208,400
People per km²4,339766
Museums within 10 km5424
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12

Where else could you go?

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