Home / Rankings / Most Comfortable Summer Cities 

Most Comfortable Summer Cities

When it comes to summer and its accompanying hot weather, there are so many beautiful things - beach days, barbecues, revealing swimsuits, Slip n' Slides, squirt gun fights, an excuse to drink watery beer all day at baseball games - the list goes on.

But there are also downsides to summer weather - some not so beautiful things like sleepless nights in sweltering apartments, sweating through your work clothes before 10am, and depending on your stance on Dad-Bods, revealing swimsuits. In short (pun intended), summer weather can get uncomfortable.

So, let's have a look at which cities are comfortable during the summer, and which will make you want to move to The North Pole for an internship in Santa's workshop or curl up naked under a crudely made blanket of ice packs and frozen peas.

Sperling's BestPlaces' newly created Summer Comfort Index considers seven climate variables, including total precipitation, daily minimum and maximum temperatures, extreme high and low temperatures, average dew points, and precipitation days. Baseline scores are based on high and low temperatures outside of a "comfort" range of 60-80 degrees Fahrenheit and are then penalized by the other variables such as humidity.

Without further ado, here are Sperling's BestPlaces' Ten Most Comfortable Summer Cities. If you live in one of these, crack another shandy and post an Instagram pic of you outside with your feet up and a sarcastic caption like "Tough life" or "This place is terrible." And, of course, a non-sarcastic "#blessed."

The Most Comfortable Cities of the Summer

1. Honolulu, HI

- Daily high: 86.2 deg
- Nighttime low: 71.4 deg
- Rainy days: 17 days
- Humidity: 64. deg.2
- Days too hot: 87 days
- Nights too cool (or not cool enough): 0 days

Honolulu has zero days during summer which get too cool or stay too hot at night, and the surrounding Pacific Ocean keeps the daytime high temperatures from getting too extreme. The cool Pacific keeps the humidity low too. In short, it's just about perfect. What else would you expect from an island paradise?

2. Los Angeles, CA

- Daily high: 86 deg.
- Nighttime low: 61.6 deg.
- Rainy days: 0 days
- Humidity: 57.7 deg.
- Days too hot: 61 days
- Nights too cool or warm: 20 days

While LA is known to be fairly hot and usually necessitates some sort of air conditioning during the summer, its low humidity translates to high overall comfort.

3. San Diego, CA

- Average daily high : 83.3 deg.
- Nighttime low: 60.2 deg.
- Rainy days: 1 days
- Humidity: 59.1 deg.
- Days too hot: 47 days
- Nights too cool or warm: 28 days

Another Southern California city with low humidity, San Diego is generally cooler than LA with 47 "Days too hot," compared to 61 in the Angel City.

4. San Jose, CA

- Average daily high: 82.3 deg.
- Nighttime low: 56.2 deg.
- Rainy days: 1 days
- Humidity: 52.2 deg.
- Days too hot: 53 days
- Nights too cool or warm: 88 days

NorCal makes its first appearance in the Top Ten, thanks to it being one of the least humid cities in the United States.

5. Oxnard, CA

- Average daily high: 81.9 deg.
- Nighttime low: 57.9 deg.
- Rainy days: 0 days
- Humidity: 55.8 deg.
- Days too hot: 49 days
- Nights too cool or warm: 79 days

Situated near the Pacific Coast, just north of Malibu, Oxnard overcomes its awkward-sounding name with an Average Daily High of an oh-so-comfy 82 degrees F.

6. San Francisco, CA

- Average daily high: 77.9 deg.
- Nighttime low: 54.7 deg.
- Rainy days: 1 days
- Humidity: 53.1 deg.
- Days too hot: 47 days
- Nights too cool or warm: 90 days

San Francisco generally has low humidity, and only has 47 days in the "Too hot" range.

7. Cleveland, OH

- Average daily high: 82.4 deg.
- Nighttime low: 62.7 deg.
- Rainy days: 21 days
- Humidity: 62 deg.
- Days too hot: 56 days
- Nights too cool or warm: 27 days

Once known to its detractors as "The Mistake by The Lake," there's no mistaking Cleveland's Summer Comfort. Although it has a somewhat high number of Rainy Days, its average low is 63 degrees F and its average high is 82 degrees F.

8. Buffalo, NY

- Average daily high: 80.7 deg.
- Nighttime low: 59.1 deg.
- Rainy days: 21 days
- Humidity: 59.7 deg.
- Days too hot: 33 days
- Nights too cool or warm: 58 days

Also situated near air-cooling Lake Erie, Bison Town, as it is known to absolutely nobody except this writer, boasts an average low of 59 degrees F and an average high of 81 degrees. Which is a boring way of saying the temperature is pretty much always in the sweet spot.

9. Rochester, NY

- Average daily high: 81.4 deg.
- Nighttime low: 59.5 deg.
- Rainy days: 21 days
- Humidity: 60.1 deg.
- Days too hot: 43 days
- Nights too cool or warm: 56 days

Another win for the Great Lakes. They're great. Right below Lake Ontario, Rochester's average highs and lows are right between 60 and 80 degrees - generally considered the most comfortable zone for homo sapiens. Science.

10. Seattle, WA

- Average daily high: 77.4 deg.
- Nighttime low: 53.2 deg.
- Rainy days: 11 days
- Humidity: 53 deg.
- Days too hot: 5 days
- Nights too cool or warm: 92 days

Known for good music, coffee, and rain, it's not actually that rainy here during the summer - only 11 Rainy Days. It's also not very humid and neither gets too cold nor too hot. Cool beans.

The Most Uncomfortable Cities in the Summer.

If you live in one of these, you already know you're suffering and the only respite you'll feel is seeing it on this list and knowing your plight is being documented. That said, you probably have really comfortable Falls, Winters, and Springs. So, in a few months post a revenge pic of you outside in a t-shirt while your friends up North are trudging through three feet of snow.

For the purposes of this study, we looked at the Summer Comfort Indexes of the Top 100 Largest Metro Areas. If you'd like to know where your smaller-sized city stacks up, shoot us an email and we'll send you its Summer Comfort Index Score and Ranking.

1. McAllen, TX

- Average daily high: 98 deg.
- Nighttime low: 75.5 deg.
- Rainy days: 9 days
- Humidity: 72.3 deg.
- Days too hot: 92 days
- Nights too cool or warm: 0 days

McAllen is officially the most uncomfortable summer city, thanks to an average of 92 Days Too Hot and an Average Daily High of 98 Degrees - not the excellent boy band anchored by the Lachey brothers. The temperature. That is too hot.

2. Houston, TX

- Average daily high: 93.9 deg.
- Nighttime low: 74.3 deg.
- Rainy days: 19 days
- Humidity: 73.7 deg.
- Days too hot: 92 days
- Nights too cool or warm: 0 days

Houston, we have a Summer Comfort problem. It's too hot and humid. The Humidity, measured in Average Dew Point Temperature, is a stickier-than-barbecue sauce 73.7 Degrees F. Good brisket, though.

3. Lakeland, FL

- Average daily high: 93 deg.
- Nighttime low: 72.4 deg.
- Rainy days: 34 days
- Humidity: 73.3 deg.
- Days too hot: 92 days
- Nights too cool or warm: 0 days

Like every city in our Bottom Ten, Lakeland-Winter Haven has an Average of 92 "Days Too Hot."

4. Cape Coral, FL

- Average daily high: 92.2 deg.
- Nighttime low: 74 deg.
- Rainy days: 37 days
- Humidity: 74.2 deg.
- Days too hot: 92 days
- Nights too cool or warm: 0 days

Located on the same Gulf that likely plays a part in Houston, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans' summer discomfort, suffice it to say that the Cape Coral-Fort Myers area is both hot and humid.

5. Orlando, FL

- Average daily high: 92.2 deg.
- Nighttime low: 73.2 deg.
- Rainy days: 32 days
- Humidity: 73.3 deg.
- Days too hot: 92 days
- Nights too cool or warm: 0 days

Smack dab in the middle of Florida and home to a theme park very similar to Disneyland, Orlando has an average of 32 Rainy Days and an Average High of 92 degrees F.

6. Baton Rouge, LA

- Average daily high: 92.2 deg.
- Nighttime low: 72.4 deg.
- Rainy days: 24 days
- Humidity: 73.3 deg.
- Days too hot: 92 days
- Nights too cool or warm: 0 days

Baton Rouge suffers from an imperfect storm of high humidity, a high average daily temperature, and uncomfortably high humidity.

7. Jackson, MS

- Average daily high: 92 deg.
- Nighttime low: 70.5 deg.
- Rainy days: 19 days
- Humidity: 72 deg.
- Days too hot: 92 days
- Nights too cool or warm: 0 days

Jackson's Nighttime low of 70.5 degrees F is actually cool compared to the other Least Comfortable Summer Cities. But its Average daily high is still 92 Degrees F.

8. New Orleans, LA

- Average daily high: 91.5 deg.
- Nighttime low: 74.3 deg.
- Rainy days: 27 days
- Humidity: 73.9 deg.
- Days too hot: 92 days
- Nights too cool or warm: 0 days

The Big Easy could also be known as The Big Sticky, as the Humidity of 73.9 is the second highest in this study, with only Cape Coral-Fort Myers barely beating it with 74.2.

9. San Antonio, TX

- Average daily high: 96.5 deg.
- Nighttime low: 72.6 deg.
- Rainy days: 12 days
- Humidity: 69.3 deg.
- Days too hot: 92 days
- Nights too cool or warm: 0 days

Alamo City (not nicknamed after the rental car company) is significantly less humid than the Bottom 8, but it is plenty hot with an Average daily high of 96.5 degrees F.

10. Austin, TX

- Average daily high: 96.7 deg.
- Nighttime low: 72 deg.
- Rainy days: 12 days
- Humidity: 69 deg.
- Days too hot: 92 days
- Nights too cool or warm: 0 days

Located about 80 miles Northeast of San Antonio, Austin has a slightly higher Average daily high, yet lower Nighttime low and Humidity. Ranking the tenth least comfortable Summer city, Austinites can boast that they're "The Best of The Worst" in this particular study.

Complete Rankings 1-100, in order of Most Comfortable to Least Comfortable. Scoring - 10 is perfect, 1 is unbearable.

Rank	City	State	Summer Comfort Index
1	Honolulu	HI	8.2
2	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim	CA	8.1
3	San Diego-Carlsbad	CA	8.0
4	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara	CA	7.8
5	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura	CA	7.7
6	San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward	CA	7.6
7	Cleveland-Elyria	OH	7.5
8	Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls	NY	7.4
9	Rochester	NY	7.4
10	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue	WA	7.3
11	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn	MI	7.2
12	Akron	OH	7.2
13	Syracuse	NY	7.2
14	Worcester	MA	7.1
15	Salt Lake City	UT	7.0
16	Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis	WI	7.0
17	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington	MN	7.0
18	Grand Rapids-Wyoming	MI	7.0
19	New York-Newark-Jersey City	NY	6.9
20	Boston-Cambridge-Newton	MA	6.9
21	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford	CT	6.9
22	Providence-Warwick	RI	6.9
23	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro	OR	6.9
24	Toledo	OH	6.9
25	Albany-Schenectady-Troy	NY	6.9
26	Scranton--Wilkes-Barre--Hazleton	PA	6.8
27	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin	IL	6.7
28	Fresno	CA	6.7
29	El Paso	TX	6.6
30	Springfield	MA	6.6
31	New Haven-Milford	CT	6.5
32	Pittsburgh	PA	6.5
33	Sacramento--Roseville--Arden-Arcade	CA	6.5
34	Youngstown-Warren-Boardman	OH	6.5
35	Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk	CT	6.4
36	Bakersfield	CA	6.4
37	Madison	WI	6.3
38	Ogden-Clearfield	UT	6.3
39	Dayton	OH	6.3
40	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington	PA	6.3
41	Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise	NV	6.2
42	Stockton-Lodi	CA	6.2
43	Harrisburg-Carlisle	PA	6.1
44	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario	CA	6.1
45	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria	DC	6.1
46	Provo-Orem	UT	6.1
47	Spokane-Spokane Valley	WA	6.1
48	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson	MD	6.0
49	Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson	IN	6.0
50	Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News	VA	5.9
51	Albuquerque	NM	5.9
52	Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton	PA	5.8
53	Boise City	ID	5.8
54	Des Moines-West Des Moines	IA	5.8
55	Colorado Springs	CO	5.8
56	Denver-Aurora-Lakewood	CO	5.8
57	Columbus	OH	5.8
58	Kansas City	MO	5.7
59	Greensboro-High Point	NC	5.7
60	Omaha-Council Bluffs	NE	5.6
61	Tucson	AZ	5.4
62	Cincinnati	OH	5.3
63	St. Louis	MO	5.3
64	Winston-Salem	NC	5.3
65	Louisville/Jefferson County	KY	5.2
66	Greenville-Anderson-Mauldin	SC	5.2
67	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell	GA	5.2
68	Durham-Chapel Hill	NC	5.1
69	Raleigh	NC	5.1
70	Wichita	KS	4.9
71	Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia	NC	4.9
72	Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale	AZ	4.9
73	Knoxville	TN	4.8
74	Oklahoma City	OK	4.7
75	Charleston-North Charleston	SC	4.5
76	Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin	TN	4.4
77	Richmond	VA	4.4
78	Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach	FL	4.3
79	Memphis	TN	4.3
80	Tulsa	OK	4.2
81	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach	FL	4.2
82	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington	TX	4.1
83	Birmingham-Hoover	AL	4.1
84	Augusta-Richmond County	GA	4.0
85	Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville	FL	4.0
86	Jacksonville	FL	4.0
87	Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway	AR	4.0
88	North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton	FL	3.9
89	Columbia	SC	3.9
90	Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater	FL	3.8
91	Austin-Round Rock	TX	3.8
92	San Antonio-New Braunfels	TX	3.8
93	New Orleans-Metairie	LA	3.7
94	Jackson	MS	3.6
95	Baton Rouge	LA	3.3
96	Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford	FL	3.3
97	Cape Coral-Fort Myers	FL	2.9
98	Lakeland-Winter Haven	FL	2.8
99	Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land	TX	2.7
100	McAllen-Edinburg-Mission	TX	2.2

Methodology
Initial scores are based on daily high and low temperatures, where the total number of degrees outside of a "comfort" range (60-80 degrees Fahrenheit) is tallied. Initial scores are then penalized by the total number of days per month with high and low temperatures outside the comfort range and are also penalized based on extremely high and/or low values. The resulting scores are further adjusted by average dew point values for each Summer month.

Other factors for comfort are precipitation totals and number of precipitation days. Scores are penalized based on total precipitation in the summer months as well as the number of days with measurable precipitation.

In the quick reference tables above, the metrics were abbreviated. The full metrics are listed below.

Daily high temp: Average maximum daily high temperature (deg F)
Nighttime low temp: Average minimum daily low temperature (deg F)
Rainy days: Precipitation days (days with measurable rainfall)
Humidity: Average maximum dew point temperature
Days too hot: Number of days with high temperatures outside comfortable range (70-80 deg F)
Nights too cool: Number of days with low temperatures outside comfortable range (60-80 or warm deg F)

Dew Point is a better measure of humidity than Relative humidity, because it doesn't vary as the temperature changes. You can have a 70% relative humidity at 90 degrees (which would be extremely uncomfortable) but a 70% relative humidity at 70 degrees is quite comfortable. It's all "relative." The Dew Point is constant. Below 60 is comfortable, 60-65 is getting 'sticky', 70 is very humid, and over 75 is very unpleasant.

---

---