Best US Marathons 2026

All 68 US marathons below are scored 0–100 on the same public rubric — course, climate, stature, logistics, entry — so the ranking reflects data, not opinion.

Our Top Picks

# Race ScoreDateField SizeElevationCutoff
1 Chicago Marathon 94.3Oct 11, 202654,00035 m6.5h
2 Boston Marathon 90.0Apr 19, 202730,000148 m6h
3 NYC Marathon 89.5Nov 1, 202659,000250 m8h
4 Houston Marathon 86.0Jan 17, 20278,00020 m6h
5 Marine Corps Marathon 81.0Oct 25, 202630,000120 m6h
6 LA Marathon 78.3Mar 7, 202725,000291 m6.5h
7 St. George Marathon 78.0Oct 3, 20265,000152 m7.25h
8 Philadelphia Marathon 75.5Nov 22, 202620,000226 m7h
9 REVEL Big Cottonwood Marathon 75.3Sep 12, 20261,17975 m6.55h
10 Mesa Marathon 75.3Feb 13, 20273,00050 m6.5h
Show all 68 races
# Race ScoreDateField SizeElevationCutoff
11 REVEL Mt Charleston Marathon 75.3Apr 3, 20271,17952 m6.55h
12 Twin Cities Marathon 75.3Oct 4, 202611,000175 m6.5h
13 Grandma's Marathon 74.5Jun 20, 20269,500124 m7h
14 Colorado Marathon 73.0May 2, 20271,16262 m6h
15 Tucson Marathon 73.0Dec 13, 2026—89 m7.5h
16 Indianapolis Monumental Marathon 72.0Nov 7, 20266,67492 m7h
17 Columbus Marathon 69.3Oct 18, 20264,000159 m6.5h
18 Ogden Marathon 69.0May 15, 2027—121 m7h
19 San Diego Marathon 68.0May 31, 20265,935247 m7h
20 Carlsbad Marathon 67.0Jan 17, 20271,186119 m6h
21 Eugene Marathon 67.0Apr 25, 20274,536178 m7h
22 Baltimore Marathon 66.5Oct 17, 20261,961297 m7h
23 Flying Pig Marathon 66.5May 2, 20275,267290 m7h
24 Pittsburgh Marathon 66.5May 2, 20275,024284 m7h
25 Richmond Marathon 66.5Nov 14, 20264,943208 m7h
26 Detroit Free Press Marathon 66.3Oct 18, 20263,569118 m6.5h
27 Salt Lake City Marathon 66.3Apr 24, 20271,931277 m6.5h
28 Jack & Jill's Downhill Marathon 64.8Jul 25, 2026—120 m6.5h
29 Wineglass Marathon 64.8Oct 4, 20261,971119 m6.5h
30 Greater St. Louis Marathon 64.3Apr 10, 20271,409300 m6.5h
31 Mountains 2 Beach Marathon 64.0Apr 18, 2027—163 m7h
32 California International Marathon 63.5Dec 6, 20268,500202 m6h
33 Long Beach Marathon 63.5Oct 11, 20264,722143 m7.5h
34 San Francisco Marathon 63.5Jul 26, 20266,536397 m6h
35 Honolulu Marathon 63.0Dec 13, 202630,000195 mNo limit
36 Vermont City Marathon 62.8May 30, 20271,472260 m6.5h
37 Buffalo Marathon 62.5May 30, 20271,488178 m6h
38 Cleveland Marathon 62.5May 16, 2027—188 m7h
39 Steamtown Marathon 62.5Oct 11, 2026892157 m7h
40 Kansas City Marathon 62.0Oct 17, 20261,546365 m6h
41 Surf City Marathon 61.8Feb 7, 2027—113 m6.5h
42 Erie Marathon 61.5Sep 13, 20261,10525 m6h
43 Dallas Marathon 61.3Dec 13, 20263,847257 m6.5h
44 Miami Marathon 61.3Jan 31, 20273,25177 m7h
45 Portland Marathon 61.3Oct 4, 20263,009266 m6.55h
46 Anchorage RunFest Marathon 60.5Aug 16, 2026232197 m7h
47 Anchorage Mayor's Marathon 59.8Jun 20, 2026668256 m6.5h
48 Route 66 Marathon 59.8Nov 22, 2026—250 m6.5h
49 Sugarloaf Marathon 59.8May 16, 2027497217 m6.5h
50 Lincoln Marathon 59.5May 2, 2027—158 m6.25h
51 Mohawk Hudson River Marathon 59.5Oct 11, 2026—144 m6h
52 Charlotte Marathon 59.0Nov 14, 20262,647318 m6h
53 Hartford Marathon 59.0Oct 10, 20261,971229 m6h
54 Tobacco Road Marathon 59.0Mar 14, 2027—220 m7h
55 San Antonio Marathon 58.5Dec 6, 20263,335277 m7h
56 Atlanta Marathon 56.3Mar 7, 20273,078407 m6.5h
57 Seattle Marathon 56.0Nov 29, 2026—249 m7h
58 Pikes Peak Marathon 55.0Sep 20, 2026—2382 m10h
59 St. Jude Memphis Marathon 54.8Dec 5, 20261,973214 m6.5h
60 Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon 54.8Apr 25, 2027—231 m6.5h
61 Denver Colfax Marathon 54.5May 16, 2027—211 m6h
62 Big Sur International Marathon 54.0Apr 25, 20273,300665 m6h
63 Rock 'n' Roll Nashville Marathon 54.0Apr 24, 20273,189331 m6h
64 Rocket City Marathon 52.5Dec 13, 2026—203 m7h
65 Maui Marathon 50.5Apr 25, 2027—46 m8h
66 Mount Desert Island Marathon 50.3Oct 18, 2026811518 m6.5h
67 Madison Marathon 49.5Nov 15, 2026—259 m6h
68 Kona Marathon 43.5Jul 4, 2026—150 m7h
How the RunDida Score works — full methodology

Library v1.0 · USA Lens v1

Every race is scored from the same public data through published lookup tables. This page weighs:

  • Prestige & field — 30%: World Marathon Majors score 100. Others take the higher of their World Athletics Label band (Platinum 90 / Gold 80 / Elite 70 / Label 60) and verified field-size band (a 40,000+ field scores 85, floor 15). No verified field size = base band, never a penalty.
  • Race-day climate — 25%: Banded on historical race-day temperature: 8-15°C scores 100; heat is penalized harder than cold (1.79M-finisher evidence base).
  • Course climb — 20%: Banded on total elevation gain: under 100 m scores 100, 700 m and over scores 10. A modeling assumption from grade energetics — it cannot see where the hills are.
  • Finishability — 15%: Cutoff generosity: no time limit scores 100, 7 hours 90, under 5.5 hours 20.
  • Weather risk — 10%: Humidity and rain-chance bands, scored as finishing risk — the evidence says humidity slows nobody once temperature is accounted for, but it raises DNF rates.
Show the exact scoring bands

The exact bands (recompute any score yourself):

Prestige & field
Abbott World Marathon Major100
WA Platinum label90
WA Gold label80
WA Elite label70
WA Label60
Field 40,000 or more85
Field 20,000–39,99970
Field 10,000–19,99955
Field 5,000–9,99945
Field 1,000–4,99930
Field under 1,000 or unverified15
Race-day climate
8–15°C100
4–7.9°C or 15.1–18°C80
0–3.9°C or 18.1–21°C55
21.1–24°C30
Below 0°C or above 24°C10
Course climb
Under 100 m gain100
100–199 m gain80
200–399 m gain55
400–699 m gain30
700 m gain or more10
Finishability
No time limit100
Cutoff 7 h or more90
Cutoff 6.5–6.9 h75
Cutoff 6–6.4 h60
Cutoff 5.5–5.9 h40
Cutoff under 5.5 h20
Weather risk
Humidity ≤60% & rain ≤30%100
Exactly one moderate (humidity 60.1–70% or rain 30.1–40%)80
Humidity 60.1–70% & rain 30.1–40%65
One severe (humidity >70% or rain >40%), other clear50
One severe, one moderate35
Humidity >70% & rain >40%20
One value unpublished → treated as benign (clear)

Inputs come from official course, weather and registration data. No verified field size = base prestige band, no penalty. Missing inputs show N/A and are removed from the weighting — never estimated.

What we deliberately don't score

  • Humidity's effect on your finish time — in the best 29-year dataset it disappears once temperature is accounted for; we score it only as finishing risk.
  • Field size as a performance factor — no published study links it to finish times; it counts toward prestige only.
  • Profile shape and downhill muscle damage — our climb band uses total gain and cannot see where the hills are.
  • Editorial judgment — our picks and badges are opinions, kept outside the score.
  • Wind — about 2% of energy cost at marathon pace on a calm day, and direction matters more than speed; shown as a fact.

Built from official course data for 349 races · as of July 7, 2026

Best marathons by state

California New York Pennsylvania Utah Colorado Hawaii Ohio Texas North Carolina Michigan Virginia Wisconsin

Best US marathons by region

The scored table above ranks all 68 races head-to-head. Region narrows the field by travel and terrain — each area has a signature fast race and a signature big one.

Northeast. New York holds both extremes: NYC (~59,000 finishers, the largest US marathon) for the spectacle, and the small downhill Wineglass in Corning for a PR. Pennsylvania adds Philadelphia (~20,000, flat and open-entry) and net-downhill Steamtown (291 m of net descent).

Midwest & Mountain. Chicago tops the whole list at RunDida Score 94.3 — 54,000 runners on a course with just 35 m of elevation gain. For a quieter BQ feeder, Indianapolis Monumental runs flat in November. The Mountain West is downhill country: Utah's St. George drops 780 m point-to-point (BQ-eligible), while REVEL Big Cottonwood's 1,603 m net drop is steep enough to trigger the B.A.A.'s downhill time adjustment.

West. California spans CIM in Sacramento (net-downhill December classic) and the bucket-list Big Sur coast route. Texas hosts Houston, a flat, cool, BQ-friendly January race that sells out in hours.

South. North Carolina's Tobacco Road (~$90 entry) and Virginia's Richmond pair affordable open registration with fast, flat courses, and warmer late-fall weather than the Northeast.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best marathon to run in the USA?

By the data, it is Chicago, which tops this page at a RunDida Score of 94.3 out of 100. It pairs a near-flat course (35 m of total elevation gain), cool mid-October weather, deep pace groups, and a 54,000-runner field. The RunDida Score is a transparent 0-100 rubric weighting stature, climate, course profile, finishability, and weather risk — so the ranking reflects measurable race attributes, not opinion. If your goal is prestige rather than a PR, Boston (score 90.0, qualification-only) leads instead.

Which US marathon has the most runners?

The New York City Marathon is the largest in the United States, with roughly 59,000 finishers across its five boroughs — the US record. Chicago is a close second at about 54,000. Note the distinction: the world's largest marathon is London, which recorded 59,830 finishers in 2026 (a Guinness World Record); NYC holds the US title, not the global one.

What are the best marathons in North America?

The United States dominates North American marathon racing, and every race ranked on this page is US-based. North of the border, Canada adds two standouts: the Toronto Waterfront Marathon (the country's largest and fastest, a flat World Athletics Elite Label course along Lake Ontario) and the spring Ottawa Marathon. See our full breakdown of the best marathons in Canada for goal-by-goal picks.

Which US marathons are easiest to get into without a lottery or qualifying time?

Most US marathons have open registration — only a handful use a lottery or require a qualifying time. The big three lotteries are Chicago, NYC, and Marine Corps; Boston is the only major that requires a qualifying standard. Everything else on this list sells on a first-come basis. Reliable open-entry options include LA (~$200), Honolulu (no time limit), Erie, PA (~$100, flat), Tobacco Road, NC (~$90), and Rocket City, AL (~$85). Popular ones like Houston, CIM, Mesa, and Indianapolis are open but sell out within hours, so register the day entries open.

What is the fastest or flattest marathon in the US?

Chicago is the flattest of the World Marathon Majors at just 35 m of elevation gain; Houston (20 m) and Berlin-style flat non-Majors are comparable. For the fastest finishing times, point-to-point downhill courses win: CIM (Sacramento), Wineglass (NY), and Mesa (AZ) all run net-downhill. See the dedicated flattest US marathons and fastest downhill marathons guides. One caveat for Boston hopefuls: from 2027 the B.A.A. adds time penalties to steep net-downhill courses (for example +5:00 for a 1,500-2,999 ft drop), so an extreme drop like Big Cottonwood's 1,603 m can cost you on your qualifying submission.

What are the best fall marathons in the US?

Fall is the richest season for US marathons — cool weather plus a summer of base training make September through early December prime PR time. Standouts include Chicago (Oct, flattest Major), Twin Cities (early Oct, Minneapolis-Saint Paul), Marine Corps (late Oct, Washington DC), Indianapolis Monumental (Nov, fast Midwest course), and CIM (early Dec, net-downhill California). For more, see the best fall marathons, or use the by-state links above to filter geographically.

How do you qualify for the Boston Marathon, and which races are best for a BQ?

Boston requires a Boston Qualifying (BQ) time by age and gender — for the 2026-2027 standards, 2:55:00 for men 18-34 and 3:25:00 for women 18-34. Hitting the standard does not guarantee entry: recent cutoffs have run several minutes faster than the published time (about 5:29 under the latest cycle), so aim for a buffer. The best BQ-feeder courses are flat or net-downhill ones like CIM, Indianapolis, Wineglass, and Houston. Check your goal pace with our Boston Qualifying Calculator, or browse the best marathons for Boston qualifying.

Is the NYC Marathon worth running if I want a PR?

No — NYC is a bucket-list experience, not a PR course. It carries roughly 250 m of elevation gain across five bridge climbs, capped by the Fifth Avenue grind into Central Park, which typically costs runners several minutes versus a flat course. Run it for the 2 million-plus spectators and five-borough atmosphere, then save your PR attempt for Chicago, Houston, or CIM.

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