What's the Most Beautiful Beach in America?

  • August 9, 2022
What's the Most Beautiful Beach in America?

There are over 1,000 beaches in the US, with over 95,000 miles of shoreline. So, where are the most stunning sands?

New research from The Family Vacation Guide has taken a deep-dive into Instagram and TripAdvisor to determine which beaches are the most beautiful:
https://www.thefamilyvacationguide.com/usa/what-is-the-most-beautiful-beach-in-the-us/

Top 10 most beautiful beaches in the US

Rank Beach Name State Number of Reviews mentioning Beautiful Number of Instagram Posts Percentage of Reviews Beauty Score
1 Panama City Beach Florida 3,045.00 915,000 46.85% 9.52
2 Pensacola Beach Florida 1,434.00 641,000 44.69% 9.12
3 Clearwater Beach Florida 4,575.00 1,200,000 36.07% 8.74
4 St. Pete Beach Florida 1,979.00 542,000 37.80% 8.68
5 Navarre Beach Florida 862.00 192,000 49.63% 8.37
6 La Jolla Cove California 4,446.00 353,000 32.72% 8.03
7 Driftwood Beach Georgia 1,184.00 71,500 39.40% 7.96
8 Ka'anapali Beach Hawaii 3,460.00 71,300 37.03% 7.92
9 Okaloosa Island Florida 688.00 93,700 44.05% 7.72
9 Waikiki Beach Hawaii 4,839.00 936,000 26.13% 7.72
11 Santa Rosa Beach Florida 474.00 228,000 53.26% 7.65

Every single one of the country’s top 5 most beautiful beaches can be found in Florida. 

Panama City Beach has been crowned the most beautiful beach in the US. The mixture of white sand and blue clear water has this Florida beach topping our list, and after enjoying some of the best things to do in Panama City Beach with kids, you can round the day off with a phenomenal view of the sunset. This beach will certainly give you and your family that ‘wow’ factor.

Runner-up on our list is Pensacola Beach, just eight miles along the coast. This beach in Florida also boasts beautiful sea and sand, which makes it a great place to make a sandcastle or two. After a busy day in the sun, you’ll want to put your head down on a comfy bed.

The research also reveals:

The most ‘picturesque’ beaches in the US from Instagram posts alone. The top 3 are Newport Beach in California, Myrtle Beach in South Carolina and Virginia Beach in Virginia. 6 Florida beaches also appear in the top 10 ranking. Newport Beach has 3,700,000 Insta posts!

The most beautiful beaches according to visitors. Looking at mentions of ‘beautiful’ on TripAdvisor we can see that Waikiki Beach in Hawaii, Clearwater Beach in Florida and La Jolla Cove in California are the top 3 most beautiful according to those who have experienced their magic.

When looking at reviews containing the word ‘beautiful’, the results change slightly, with all top 3 beaches residing in Florida. Santa Rosa Beach, Gulf Islands National Seashore and Navarre Beach take the top 3 honorable positions.

You can see the full research here.