With the COVID-19 vaccine available to all Americans and the number of daily travelers passing through TSA checkpoints over 10 times higher than last year, the personal-finance website WalletHub has released its report on 2021’s Best Summer Travel Destinations, as well as accompanying videos, to supplement its Best Travel Credit Cards and Currency Exchange studies.

To help travelers plan the perfect summer getaway, WalletHub compared 100 metro areas across 42 key indicators of budget- and fun-friendliness. The data set ranges from the cost of the cheapest flight to the number of attractions to COVID-19 cases.

To view the full report, visit: https://wallethub.com/edu/best-summer-travel-destinations/3792

Top 20 Summer Travel Destinations

First, Orlando, FL; followed by Honolulu, HI; New Orleans, LA; Austin, TX; Atlanta, GA; Salt Lake City, UT; Tulsa, OK; Los Angeles, CA; Oklahoma City, OK; and Little Rock, AR coming in 10th.

Rated as number 11 was Washington, DC; followed by Springfield, MO; San Antonio, TX; Wichita, KS; Tampa, FL; Tucson, AZ; Miami, FL; Riverside, CA; Albuquerque, NM and in 20th place, Raleigh, NC.

Best vs. Worst

The average flight to a popular summer destination costs $293.73, lasts three hours and 44 minutes and has 0.3 connections.

The Los Angeles metro area is the most attractive destination on the West Coast and the Atlanta metro area is the most attractive destination on the East Coast.

Florida, Oklahoma and Texas are home to the most top summer destinations in the U.S., each with two metro areas in the top 15. Oppositely, Michigan and Pennsylvania have the largest numbers of the most unpopular summer destinations, each with two metro areas.

The Orlando metro area has the lowest nightly rate for a three-star hotel room, $32, which is 4.9 times less expensive than in Santa Rosa, the metro area with the highest at $157.