VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70

Photos: Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Seattle by Caio, Pexels License.

Santa Monica or Seattle?

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 Santa Monica for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • families

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

Choose Seattle for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Seattle’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. Santa Monica 66, Seattle 30: Santa Monica leads by 36 points.
Food & drink. Santa Monica 60, Seattle 66: Seattle leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Monica 35, Seattle 50: Seattle leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Santa Monica 38, Seattle 55: Seattle leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Monica 72, Seattle 87: Seattle leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Santa Monica 64, Seattle 55: Santa Monica leads by 9 points.
Good for families. Santa Monica 70, Seattle 64: Santa Monica leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Santa Monica 52, Seattle 60: Seattle leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Monica 56, Seattle 52: Santa Monica leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Santa Monica 14, Seattle 22: Seattle leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Monica 38, Seattle 70: Seattle leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Monica 45, Seattle 40: Santa Monica leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santa Monica and Seattle.

Your match

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

Santa Monica
51match

Wins on beaches and day trips with your weighting.

Seattle
Best match
54match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Santa Monica in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Seattle in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
15 mmrain in the month
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MonicaSeattle

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre). Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSanta MonicaSeattle
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation32 m40 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MonicaSeattle
City population93,076737,015
People per km²4,2701,996
Museums within 10 km1927
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Santa Monica or Seattle 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.