VacationSelector
Hawthorne Bridge and downtown, Portland
PortlandHawthorne Bridge and downtown
The Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, Wilmington
WilmingtonThe Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge

Photos: Portland by Cacophony, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Wilmington by Unexpected Snacks, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Portland or Wilmington?

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 Portland for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • food and drink

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

Choose Wilmington for

  • beaches
  • families
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Wilmington’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. Portland 20, Wilmington 73: Wilmington leads by 53 points.
Food & drink. Portland 68, Wilmington 48: Portland leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Portland 38, Wilmington 40: Wilmington leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Portland 52, Wilmington 40: Portland leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Portland 84, Wilmington 58: Portland leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Portland 58, Wilmington 45: Portland leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Portland 55, Wilmington 62: Wilmington leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Portland 62, Wilmington 28: Portland leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. Portland 52, Wilmington 33: Portland leads by 19 points.
Affordability. Portland 38, Wilmington 42: Wilmington leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Portland 55, Wilmington 40: Portland leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Portland 42, Wilmington 33: Portland leads by 9 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Portland and Wilmington.

Your match

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

Portland
Best match
52match

Wins on getting around and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Wilmington
45match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Portland in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Wilmington in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
174 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
PortlandWilmington

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Portland: 1991-2020 normals, Portland International Airport (9.8 km from centre). Wilmington: 1991-2020 normals, Wilmington / The Palms Mobile Home Park (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePortlandWilmington
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation152 m9 m
Main airportPortland International Airport (PDX)10 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsWilmington International Airport (ILM)5 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasurePortlandWilmington
City population652,503115,451
People per km²1,736839
Museums within 10 km172
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Portland or Wilmington 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.