VacationSelector
Camelback Mountain above the city, Scottsdale
ScottsdaleCamelback Mountain above the city
Palms at CityPlace on Rosemary Avenue, West Palm Beach
West Palm BeachPalms at CityPlace on Rosemary Avenue

Photos: Scottsdale by Visitor7, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; West Palm Beach by Michael Rivera, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Scottsdale or West Palm Beach?

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 Scottsdale for

  • wellness
  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose West Palm Beach for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on West Palm Beach’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. Scottsdale 8, West Palm Beach 80: West Palm Beach leads by 72 points.
Food & drink. Scottsdale 46, West Palm Beach 52: West Palm Beach leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Scottsdale 38, West Palm Beach 42: West Palm Beach leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Scottsdale 52, West Palm Beach 36: Scottsdale leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Scottsdale 68, West Palm Beach 58: Scottsdale leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Scottsdale 50, West Palm Beach 55: West Palm Beach leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Scottsdale 60, West Palm Beach 66: West Palm Beach leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Scottsdale 20, West Palm Beach 38: West Palm Beach leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Scottsdale 60, West Palm Beach 64: West Palm Beach leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Scottsdale 32, West Palm Beach 23: Scottsdale leads by 9 points.
Live music & performing arts. Scottsdale 40, West Palm Beach 47: West Palm Beach leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Scottsdale 72, West Palm Beach 44: Scottsdale leads by 28 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Scottsdale and West Palm Beach.

Your match

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

Scottsdale
46match

Wins on wellness and nightlife with your weighting.

West Palm Beach
Best match
50match

Wins on beaches and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Scottsdale in July

41 °Cdaytime high
29 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

West Palm Beach in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
145 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ScottsdaleWest Palm Beach

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Scottsdale: 1991-2020 normals, Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (13.3 km from centre). West Palm Beach: 1991-2020 normals, Palm Beach International (5.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureScottsdaleWest Palm Beach
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-7UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation380 m6 m
Main airportPhoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)10 km from centre148 non-stop destinationsPresident Donald J. Trump International Airport (DJT)6 km from centre42 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureScottsdaleWest Palm Beach
City population241,361117,415
People per km²-786
Museums within 10 km104
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Scottsdale or West Palm Beach 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.