Hawaii and Florida top list of best US beaches for 2026, according to ‘Dr. Beach’

A crescent-shaped seashore in Hawaii that’s immersed in greenery and dealing with an island simply offshore is the best seashore within the US.

So says coastal scientist Stephen P. Leatherman, higher often known as “Dr. Beach.” Poipu Beach on the island of Kauai tops the list for 2026, which he compiles primarily based on 50 particular person standards.

The No. 2 seashore, according to Leatherman’s annual rating, is St. Andrews State Park in Panama City, Florida.

Hawaii and Florida dominate the top 10, which incorporates Caladesi Island State Park within the Dunedin/Clearwater space of Florida, and Wailea Beach on the Hawaiian island of Maui.

One seashore within the Northeast broke into the top 5: Main Beach within the picturesque japanese Long Island city of East Hampton. The New York seashore ranked No. 5 this 12 months.

Leatherman notes the seashore’s “peaceful, countryside setting in a small village” and the “towering sand dunes” that assist make it so bucolic.

Hawaii and Florida sometimes fare effectively within the rating partly as a result of Leatherman focuses on “swimming beaches,” which suggests the water has to be heat sufficient to draw folks in for a number of strokes.

Beaches in Maine, Connecticut and different Northeastern states, for instance, are sometimes too “nippy” to make the lower, he mentioned in an interview with NCS. One Massachusetts seashore, nonetheless, caps off the top 10: Cape Cod’s Coast Guard Beach. Leatherman says guests go by bike or shuttle bus to attain this pristine seashore the place in recent times seals have begun to congregate.

Several beaches are positioned in personal resorts, together with Kaunaoa in Hawaii, often known as Mauna Kea Beach, positioned on the island of Hawaii. While the seashore is positioned contained in the Mauna Key Beach Resort, the shoreline is accessible by dint of the general public proper of approach, confused Leatherman, who teaches at Florida International University in Miami.

Water temperature and readability

Don’t see your favourite seashore? Water temperature, as famous, is probably going the wrongdoer.

Leatherman says there are a lot of spots he likes in Washington State, Northern California and Oregon, amongst different locations, and he typically hears from beachgoers who complain when these areas don’t make the list.

“It’s just too bloody cold,” he mentioned.

Other elements that preserve beaches off his rating embrace tidal actions. Leatherman mentioned robust tides make the water cloudy, which doesn’t at all times enchantment to beachgoers as a result of as soon as immersed within the surf, “People want to see their toes.”

Leatherman often cites beaches which have to be faraway from the top 10 as a result of of air pollution or different points. Three beaches had been excluded from this 12 months’s rating, together with Coronado Beach in San Diego for a second 12 months in a row. Leatherman says sewage from the Tijuana River is gravely impacting the seashore.

“It is wrecking that whole area,” Leatherman mentioned. “I am so upset about that.”

San Diego County has repeatedly had to subject advisories due to the presence of micro organism within the water, warning swimmers to preserve away. New advisories citing sewage from the Tijuana River had been issued in May.

The two different beaches which might be off the list this 12 months are Lighthouse Beach on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, due to erosion, and Cape Florida State Park in Miami the place the huge amount of sargassum seaweed washing up on shore is lowering the seashore’s pure magnificence.

Leatherman has been publishing the annual list since 1991. The 50 criteria that he uses to evaluate the beaches embrace water and sand high quality, the scale of waves, the form of the seashore, cleanliness and rainfall.

He “retires” beaches from his rating in order that different spots have an opportunity however that doesn’t imply there’s been a dip in high quality. Last 12 months, for instance, Coopers Beach within the New York city of Southampton topped the list. He mentioned it stays an exquisite seashore.

In the 2025 rating, this 12 months’s No. 1 seashore, Poipu, got here in third.

There are 650 main public leisure beaches within the US, according to Dr. Beach, and he says he’s visited all of them.