Washington DC or West Palm Beach?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Wins on sights concentration and nightlife with your weighting.
Wins on beaches & swimming and nature & day trips with your weighting.
What matters to you?
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. West Palm Beach leads by 70 points.70
| Washington DC | West Palm Beach | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 18 | 88 |
| Swim season months | 3 | 12 |
| Beaches 10 km | 1 | 10 |
| Coast distance | 34 km | 0 km |
| Water distance | 34 km | 0 km |
Places to eat. Washington DC leads by 40 points.40
| Washington DC | West Palm Beach | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 77 | 37 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 1,666 | 262 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 36 | 14 |
Museums & heritage. Washington DC leads by 38 points.38
| Washington DC | West Palm Beach | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 55 | 17 |
| Museums within 10 km | 83 | 5 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 55 | 3 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 66 | 60 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 0 | 0 |
Nightlife. Washington DC leads by 41 points.41
| Washington DC | West Palm Beach | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 61 | 20 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 1,029 | 132 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 593 | 90 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 58 | 68 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 54 | 10 |
Nature & day trips. West Palm Beach leads by 27 points.27
| Washington DC | West Palm Beach | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 42 | 69 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | 10 | 15 |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 1 | 0 |
| Land share of disc % | 94 | 45 |
| Park area within 2 km | 96 hectares | 34 hectares |
Good for families. Washington DC leads by 17 points.17
| Washington DC | West Palm Beach | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 38 | 21 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 7 | 3 |
| Park area within 2 km | 96 hectares | 34 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 1 | 1 |
Sights concentration. Washington DC leads by 64 points.64
| Washington DC | West Palm Beach | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 76 | 12 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 305 | 8 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Washington DC and West Palm Beach are level on 43.
| Washington DC | West Palm Beach | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 43 | 43 |
| Price level global | 100 | 100 |
| Daily budget | — | — |
Year-round weather. West Palm Beach leads by 13 points.13
| Washington DC | West Palm Beach | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 62 | 75 |
| Monthly daytime high | 7 °C to 31.7 °C | 24 °C to 32.5 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 65 mm to 108 mm | 67 mm to 217 mm |
| Dry months | 0 | 0 |
When should you go?
The figures behind each month. Each row is shaded against that destination's own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that measure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.
Temperature and rainfall are thirty-year climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Washington DC: 1991-2020 normals, Washington National Airport (5 km from centre). West Palm Beach: 1991-2020 normals, Palm Beach International (5.8 km from centre).
Getting there
| Flying from | Washington DC | West Palm Beach |
|---|---|---|
| New YorkJFK, EWR, LGA | 1 h 5 m €233-271 DCA · 5 km | 2 h 35 m no fares DJT · 6 km |
| AtlantaATL, PDK | 1 h 40 m €267-307 1 stop DCA · 5 km | 1 h 40 m no fares DJT · 6 km |
| TorontoYYZ, YHM, YTZ | 1 h 20 m €158-333 IAD · 37 km | 2 h 55 m no fares DJT · 6 km |
| BostonBOS, PSM | 1 h 25 m €162-173 DCA · 5 km | 2 h 55 m no fares DJT · 6 km |
| ChicagoORD, MDW, DPA, PWK +1 | 1 h 50 m €199-215 DCA · 5 km | 2 h 50 m no fares DJT · 6 km |
| Los AngelesLAX, BUR, SNA, VNY | 5 h 0 m €226-372 1 stop DCA · 5 km | 5 h 5 m no fares DJT · 6 km |
| CharlotteCLT | 1 h 15 m €187-219 1 stop IAD · 37 km | 1 h 45 m no fares DJT · 6 km |
| San JuanSJU, SIG | 3 h 40 m no fares IAD · 37 km | 2 h 40 m €124-126 1 stop FLL · 72 km |
| MadridMAD | 7 h 50 m no fares IAD · 37 km | 9 h 0 m €522-631 1 stop MIA · 105 km |
| DubaiDXB, DWC | 14 h 0 m no fares IAD · 37 km | 15 h 30 m €891-1074 2 stops MIA · 105 km |
The busiest departure cities for these two, with a place kept for each other part of the world. Busiest means arriving passengers where an official count exists, and where none does, the number of non-stop services flown: official route statistics are published by the European reporting countries and by nobody else, so a table ranked on them alone would offer a reader in New York or Tokyo ten European cities. Flying times are estimated from the distance between airports, and every row is a city flown non-stop to both. Where the typical offer connects anyway, the stops are shown. Under each figure is the airport the flight lands at and how far that is from the centre, because the nearest airport is not always the one a route is flown to. Where both columns name the same airport it is one flight, and the difference between the two is the distance printed beside it. Typical return fares for 2026-08 to 2026-09, cached market data up to 7 days old. The figure is the middle half of the offers found, so a single price means they agreed and a range means they did not; for a typical route that middle half spans about a quarter of the median, and for the least settled routes rather more than the median itself.
Before you go
| Measure | Washington DC | West Palm Beach |
|---|---|---|
| Currency | US Dollar (USD) | US Dollar (USD) |
| Sockets | AB120 V, 60 Hz | AB120 V, 60 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer | UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer |
| Emergency number | 911 | 911 |
| Elevation | 72 m | 6 m |
| Main airport | Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)5 km from centre103 non-stop destinations | President Donald J. Trump International Airport (DJT)6 km from centre37 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 11 days | 11 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Washington DC | West Palm Beach |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 689,545 | 117,415 |
| People per km² | 3,896 | 786 |
| Museums within 10 km | 99 | 4 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 0 | 0 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 82 | 18 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | 3 months | 12 months |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Washington DC or West Palm Beach somewhere new.