VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
The old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river, Tampa
TampaThe old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river

Photos: Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Tampa by Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Santa Monica or Tampa?

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

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • shopping

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

Choose Tampa for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Tampa’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, Tampa 70: Tampa leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Santa Monica 60, Tampa 57: Santa Monica leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Monica 35, Tampa 42: Tampa leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Santa Monica 38, Tampa 52: Tampa leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Monica 72, Tampa 55: Santa Monica leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Santa Monica 64, Tampa 54: Santa Monica leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Santa Monica 70, Tampa 78: Tampa leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Santa Monica 52, Tampa 22: Santa Monica leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Monica 56, Tampa 40: Santa Monica leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Santa Monica 14, Tampa 40: Tampa leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Monica 38, Tampa 47: Tampa leads by 9 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Monica 45, Tampa 30: Santa Monica leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santa Monica and Tampa.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Santa Monica
51match

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

Tampa
49match

Wins on prices 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
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Tampa in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
197 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MonicaTampa

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre). Tampa: 1991-2020 normals, Tampa International Airport (7.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSanta MonicaTampa
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
Elevation32 m30 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsTampa International Airport (TPA)8 km from centre101 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MonicaTampa
City population93,076384,959
People per km²4,270848
Museums within 10 km196
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone8 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Santa Monica or Tampa 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.