VacationSelector
The Assembly Hall on Temple Square, Salt Lake City
Salt Lake CityThe Assembly Hall on Temple Square
The Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, Wilmington
WilmingtonThe Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge

Photos: Salt Lake City by hakkun, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Wilmington by Unexpected Snacks, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Salt Lake City 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 Salt Lake City for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Salt Lake City’s own page.

Choose Wilmington for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • nightlife

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. Salt Lake City 12, Wilmington 73: Wilmington leads by 61 points.
Food & drink. Salt Lake City 40, Wilmington 48: Wilmington leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Salt Lake City 42, Wilmington 40: Salt Lake City leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Salt Lake City 30, Wilmington 40: Wilmington leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Salt Lake City 90, Wilmington 58: Salt Lake City leads by 32 points.
Day trips. Salt Lake City 34, Wilmington 45: Wilmington leads by 11 points.
Good for families. Salt Lake City 72, Wilmington 62: Salt Lake City leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Salt Lake City 42, Wilmington 28: Salt Lake City leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Salt Lake City 36, Wilmington 33: Salt Lake City leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Salt Lake City 40, Wilmington 42: Wilmington leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Salt Lake City 55, Wilmington 40: Salt Lake City leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Salt Lake City 38, Wilmington 33: Salt Lake City leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Salt Lake City and Wilmington.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Salt Lake City
44match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Wilmington
45match

Wins on beaches and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Salt Lake City in July

34 °Cdaytime high
19 °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
Salt Lake CityWilmington

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Salt Lake City: 1991-2020 normals, Salt Lake City International Airport (7.9 km from centre). Wilmington: 1991-2020 normals, Wilmington / The Palms Mobile Home Park (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSalt Lake CityWilmington
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-7, UTC-6 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation1,288 m9 m
Main airportSalt Lake City International Airport (SLC)9 km from centre108 non-stop destinationsWilmington International Airport (ILM)5 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureSalt Lake CityWilmington
City population199,723115,451
People per km²690839
Museums within 10 km122
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 Salt Lake City 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.