VacationSelector
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70
The Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, Wilmington
WilmingtonThe Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge

Photos: Seattle by Caio, Pexels License; Wilmington by Unexpected Snacks, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Seattle 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 Seattle for

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

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

Choose Wilmington for

  • beaches
  • prices

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. Seattle 30, Wilmington 73: Wilmington leads by 43 points.
Food & drink. Seattle 66, Wilmington 48: Seattle leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Seattle 50, Wilmington 40: Seattle leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Seattle 55, Wilmington 40: Seattle leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Seattle 87, Wilmington 58: Seattle leads by 29 points.
Day trips. Seattle 55, Wilmington 45: Seattle leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Seattle 64, Wilmington 62: Seattle leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Seattle 60, Wilmington 28: Seattle leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Seattle 52, Wilmington 33: Seattle leads by 19 points.
Affordability. Seattle 22, Wilmington 42: Wilmington leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Seattle 70, Wilmington 40: Seattle leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Seattle 40, Wilmington 33: Seattle leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Seattle and Wilmington.

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 live music and the arts with your weighting.

Wilmington
45match

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

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
SeattleWilmington

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre). Wilmington: 1991-2020 normals, Wilmington / The Palms Mobile Home Park (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSeattleWilmington
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 m9 m
Main airportSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinationsWilmington International Airport (ILM)5 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureSeattleWilmington
City population737,015115,451
People per km²1,996839
Museums within 10 km272
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Seattle 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.