VacationSelector
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70
The old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river, Tampa
TampaThe old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river

Photos: Seattle by Caio, Pexels License; Tampa by Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Seattle 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 Seattle for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Tampa for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • families

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. Seattle 30, Tampa 70: Tampa leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Seattle 66, Tampa 57: Seattle leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Seattle 50, Tampa 42: Seattle leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Seattle 55, Tampa 52: Seattle leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Seattle 87, Tampa 55: Seattle leads by 32 points.
Day trips. Seattle 55, Tampa 54: Seattle leads by 1 points.
Good for families. Seattle 64, Tampa 78: Tampa leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Seattle 60, Tampa 22: Seattle leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Seattle 52, Tampa 40: Seattle leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Seattle 22, Tampa 40: Tampa leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Seattle 70, Tampa 47: Seattle leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Seattle 40, Tampa 30: Seattle leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Seattle and Tampa.

Your match

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

Seattle
Best match
54match

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

Tampa
49match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Seattle in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
15 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
12 °Csea
16 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
SeattleTampa

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre). Tampa: 1991-2020 normals, Tampa International Airport (7.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSeattleTampa
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
Elevation40 m30 m
Main airportSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinationsTampa International Airport (TPA)8 km from centre101 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSeattleTampa
City population737,015384,959
People per km²1,996848
Museums within 10 km276
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Seattle 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.