Boston or San Francisco?

4,341 km apart, both in United States. Each is scored month by month on the same ten years of climate readings, the public holidays that crowd it, and what the flight costs. This is where they part, and when.

• Boston United States · best May, Jun, Aug
• San Francisco United States · best Apr, May, Jun

Month by month

Each cell is that destination's own verdict for the month — sweet spot, ok or avoid — with its typical daily high and its rainy days ("11d"). The pick goes to the better verdict; with the same verdict, to the higher score, unless the two are within a whisker of each other, when it is either. A month both would avoid is neither. A dot marks a busy month.

Before you go

Both are in United States, so the currency, the plugs and the travel advice are the same: type A and B plugs, driving on the right, paying in the United states dollar. Everything for United States.

Between them

4,341 km as the crow flies, about 6h 13m in the air.Nonstop, about 17 a day · 4 airlines.

The flight time is estimated from the distance. A road, train or bus is named only where it was measured — flights from AeroDataBox, roads from OpenRouteService, timetables via Transitous — and none of it is a fare; the searches on each destination's page are where prices live.

Also compared

• Boston or Chicago
• Boston or Los Angeles
• Boston or Mexico City
• Boston or Miami
• Boston or New York
• Boston or Seattle
• Boston or Toronto
• Boston or Vancouver
• San Francisco or Chicago
• San Francisco or Los Angeles
• San Francisco or Mexico City
• San Francisco or Miami

Every verdict here is the destination's own: ten years of climate readings, the public holidays that crowd it, and what the flight costs. The comparison is the difference between two pages, not a third opinion.