VacationSelector
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70
The US Capitol, Washington DC
Washington DCThe US Capitol

Photos: Seattle by Caio, Pexels License; Washington DC by Guohua Song, Pexels License.

Seattle or Washington DC?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • wellness

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

Choose Washington DC for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Washington DC’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, Washington DC 12: Seattle leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Seattle 66, Washington DC 67: Washington DC leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Seattle 50, Washington DC 84: Washington DC leads by 34 points.
Nightlife. Seattle 55, Washington DC 57: Washington DC leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Seattle 87, Washington DC 64: Seattle leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Seattle 55, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Seattle 64, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 9 points.
Getting around. Seattle 60, Washington DC 72: Washington DC leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Seattle and Washington DC are level on 52.
Affordability. Seattle 22, Washington DC 28: Washington DC leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Seattle 70, Washington DC 67: Seattle leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Seattle 40, Washington DC 26: Seattle leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Seattle and Washington DC.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Seattle
54match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches with your weighting.

Washington DC
56match

Wins on culture and sights and day trips 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
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Washington DC in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
108 mmrain in the month
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
SeattleWashington DC

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre). Washington DC: 1991-2020 normals, Washington National Airport (5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSeattleWashington DC
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 m72 m
Main airportSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinationsRonald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)5 km from centre105 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSeattleWashington DC
City population737,015689,545
People per km²1,9963,896
Museums within 10 km2798
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Seattle or Washington DC 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.