VacationSelector
The Winchester Mystery House, San Jose
San JoseThe Winchester Mystery House
The CN Tower and skyline from the Toronto Islands, Toronto
TorontoThe CN Tower and skyline from the Toronto Islands

Photos: San Jose by Roxanna Salceda, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Toronto by Dillan Payne, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

San Jose or Toronto?

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 San Jose for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Toronto for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Toronto’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. San Jose 30, Toronto 34: Toronto leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. San Jose 56, Toronto 70: Toronto leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. San Jose 36, Toronto 50: Toronto leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. San Jose 33, Toronto 62: Toronto leads by 29 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Jose 72, Toronto 52: San Jose leads by 20 points.
Day trips. San Jose 78, Toronto 50: San Jose leads by 28 points.
Good for families. San Jose 65, Toronto 74: Toronto leads by 9 points.
Getting around. San Jose 30, Toronto 65: Toronto leads by 35 points.
Shopping & style. San Jose 48, Toronto 66: Toronto leads by 18 points.
Affordability. San Jose 20, Toronto 34: Toronto leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Jose 38, Toronto 72: Toronto leads by 34 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Jose 30, Toronto 33: Toronto leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Jose and Toronto.

Your match

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

San Jose
45match

Wins on day trips and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Toronto
Best match
55match

Wins on getting around and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

San Jose in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
14 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Toronto in July

27 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
83 mmrain in the month
20 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
San JoseToronto

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. San Jose: 1991-2020 normals, San Jose / Santa Clara Trailer Village (8.2 km from centre). Toronto: 1991-2020 normals, Toronto City (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan JoseToronto
Official language-French, English
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation25 m76 m
Main airportMineta San Jose International Airport (SJC)8 km from centre38 non-stop destinationsToronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ)20 km from centre191 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan JoseToronto
City population1,013,2402,794,356
People per km²2,1674,434
Museums within 10 km1932
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone1 month

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow San Jose or Toronto 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.