Holiday shopping news
Shoppers in this Dallas suburb are among biggest holiday spenders in U.S.
It appears that delivery drivers (and Santa) will be hauling sleighs full of gifts to homes in Flower Mound this holiday season.
A new study from personal finance website WalletHub ranks Flower Mound second in the country for cities with the biggest holiday budgets. WalletHub estimates consumers in Flower Mound will ring up an average of $2,973 in holiday spending this year. Only Palo Alto, California, had a higher amount ($3,056) among the 570 U.S. cities included in the study, which was released November 17.
The five factors that WalletHub used to come up with budget estimates for each city are income, age, savings-to-expenses ratio, income-to-expenses ratio and debt-to-income ratio.
Flower Mound consistently ranks at the top of WalletHub's annual study on holiday spending. Last year, the Dallas suburb came in at No. 3 (budget: $2,937), and in 2018, it landed atop the list at No. 1 (budget: $2,761).
Aside from Flower Mound, five cities in Dallas-Fort Worth appear in WalletHub’s top 100:
- Richardson, No. 36, $2,002
- Frisco, No. 53, $1,684
- Plano, No. 59, $1,594
- Carrollton, No. 71, $1,492
- North Richland Hills, No. 95, $1,303
Elsewhere in Texas, four cities in the Houston area show up in the top 100, and two of them are in the top 10:
- The Woodlands, No. 6, $2,729
- Sugar Land, No. 7, $2,728
- League City, No. 15, $2,501
- Missouri City, No. 98, $1,264
Two cities in the Austin area also make the top 100: Cedar Park at No. 73 ($1,472) and Austin at No. 99 ($1,259).
Austin’s No. 99 ranking puts it in the top spot among Texas’ five largest cities. It’s followed by Fort Worth (No. 306, $718), San Antonio (No. 394, $600), Dallas (No. 399, $596), and Houston (No. 436, $565).
Harlingen is the most Scrooge-y Texas city: The estimated $385 holiday budget puts it at No. 560 nationwide.
Overall, Americans predict they’ll spend an average of $805 on holiday gifts this year, down significantly from last year’s estimate of $942, according to a recent Gallup poll.
Outlooks for U.S. holiday retail sales this year are muted due to the pandemic-produced recession. Consulting giant Deloitte forecasts a modest rise of 1 percent to 1.5 percent, with commercial real estate services provider CBRE guessing the figure will be less than 2 percent.
“The lower projected holiday growth this season is not surprising given the state of the economy. While high unemployment and economic anxiety will weigh on overall retail sales this holiday season, reduced spending on pandemic-sensitive services such as restaurants and travel may help bolster retail holiday sales somewhat,” Daniel Bachman, Deloitte’s U.S. economic forecaster, says in a release.