Spending habits of the biggest US cities

Holiday Spending Report: Which US Cities Are The Most Generous?

As much as we enjoy settling down for a festive film during winter, the holidays are an expensive time of year. In fact, the US alone is expected to spend more than $300 billion, and that’s just on presents. The total Christmas cost in America this year is expected to rise to more than $1 trillion dollars - much of this via online shopping.

How is that spending broken down though?

We’ve analyzed consumer spending habits of the 100 most populated cities in the US in relation to Christmas 2022 presents. In this post, we’ll show you what we've found, including the most generous and least generous cities in the United States during the holidays. We'll also take a look at the total online shopping and Ecommerce numbers.

How Much Will The Average American Spend On Christmas Presents In 2022?

The United States currently has a population of more than 338 million people. Out of those 338 million people, more than 90% report that they celebrate Christmas in some form. That means that more than 300 million Americans celebrate Christmas. 

American consumers from the 100 most populated cities will spend an average of $932 on presents. When you consider the average monthly salary in cities like El Paso, Texas is only $3,749, this is a significant amount. In fact, in cities like Fresno, California, the average Christmas budget is only $757.

READY M

Which US Cities Are Most Generous During The Holidays?

Our data also shows how much of their monthly salary Americans are willing to spend on presents. As a result, we can see which cities are the most and least generous based on their holiday spend as a percentage of wages. 

The most generous large US cities at Christmas are:

  1. Scottsdale, Arizona - 55% of wages spent
  2. Gilbert, Arizona - 40% of wages spent
  3. Chesapeake, Virginia - 38% of wages spent
  4. Arlington, Virginia - 37% of wages spent
  5. Santa Clarita, California - 37% of wages spent

Here are the full top 10 most generous large cities in the US:

Rank

City

Average monthly salary

Average holiday budget

Holiday budget as percentage of salary

#1

Scottsdale, AZ

$4125

$2271

55%

#2

Gilbert, AZ

$4067

$1631

40%

#3

Chesapeake, VA

$3727

$1420

38%

#4

Arlington, VA

$6727

$2484

37%

#5

Santa Clarita, CA

$4138

$1544

37%

#6

Saint Paul, MN

$3766

$1341

36%

#7

Freemont, CA

$6143

$2147

35%

#8

Chandler, AZ

$4291

$1480

35%

#9

Seattle, WA

$6239

$2112

34%

#10

St Petersburg, FL

$3904

$1328

34%

Which US Cities Are The Least Generous?

The least generous large cities in the United States during the holidays are:

  1. Memphis, Tennessee - 11% of wages spent
  2. Newark, New Jersey - 11% of wages spent
  3. Cincinnati, Ohio - 12% of wages spent
  4. New Orleans, Louisiana - 12% of wages spent
  5. Detroit, Michigan - 14% of wages spent

Here are the full top 10 least generous large cities in the US:

Rank

City

Average monthly salary

Average holiday budget

Holiday budget as percentage of salary

#100

Memphis, TN

$5206

$596

11%

#99

Newark, NJ

$6532

$710

11%

#98

Cincinnati, OH

$4702

$583

12%

#97

New Orleans, LA

$5479

$629

12%

#96

Detroit, MI

$5866

$794

14%

#95

St Louis, MS

$4297

$638

15%

#94

Miami, FL

$4472

$658

15%

#93

Cleveland, OH

$4883

$728

15%

#92

Nashville, TN

$5567

$846

15%

#91

Los Angeles, CA

$5598

$852

15%

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Which US States Are The Most Festive?

A recent Get CenturyLink  Study looked at how festive US states are. The research focused on online activity and state culture. New Hampshire topped the list, whilst states such as New York and Washington DC finished bottom.

In relation to the most and least generous cities during Christmas, Arizona moved up from 37 to 21, whilst Virginia moved up to 43. 

However, Ohio moved up from 24 to 6. This suggests that love for Christmas doesn’t necessarily impact spending.

How Much Money Is Spent Online During The Holiday Period?

American Christmas spending reports have shown that 57% of Americans buy Christmas presents online. This accounts for more than 150 million people. 

More than $240 billion dollars are spent through online retailers. With statistics like that, it's no surprise that the Ecommerce industry is expected to grow by 56% in 2026. 

Final Thoughts

In this post, we’ve looked at US holiday spending. We’ve revealed that Americans from the 100 most populated cities in the US are expected to spend more than $300 billion dollars on presents.

On average, people will spend $932 on Christmas presents in 2022. We also looked at which cities are the most and least generous. We found that there was no relation between this and how festive each city or state was. 

There doesn’t appear to be any correlation between how much someone earns and spends either.   

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