VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
The Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, Wilmington
WilmingtonThe Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge

Photos: Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Wilmington by Unexpected Snacks, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Santa Monica 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 Santa Monica for

  • getting around
  • shopping
  • day trips

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

Choose Wilmington for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • culture and sights

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. Santa Monica 66, Wilmington 73: Wilmington leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Santa Monica 60, Wilmington 48: Santa Monica leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Monica 35, Wilmington 40: Wilmington leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Santa Monica 38, Wilmington 40: Wilmington leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Monica 72, Wilmington 58: Santa Monica leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Santa Monica 64, Wilmington 45: Santa Monica leads by 19 points.
Good for families. Santa Monica 70, Wilmington 62: Santa Monica leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Santa Monica 52, Wilmington 28: Santa Monica leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Monica 56, Wilmington 33: Santa Monica leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Santa Monica 14, Wilmington 42: Wilmington leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Monica 38, Wilmington 40: Wilmington leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Monica 45, Wilmington 33: Santa Monica leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santa Monica and Wilmington.

Your match

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

Santa Monica
Best match
51match

Wins on getting around and shopping with your weighting.

Wilmington
45match

Wins on prices and beaches 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

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
Santa MonicaWilmington

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre). Wilmington: 1991-2020 normals, Wilmington / The Palms Mobile Home Park (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSanta MonicaWilmington
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 m9 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsWilmington International Airport (ILM)5 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MonicaWilmington
City population93,076115,451
People per km²4,270839
Museums within 10 km192
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone6 months

Where else could you go?

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