Santa Baby

Affluent Dallas suburb leads list of lavish holiday spending budgets in U.S.

Presents for everyone!

As the most wonderful time of the year approaches, holiday shopping budgets are in the spotlight, and a study from WalletHub lists Flower Mound as one of the top cities where Santa doesn't need a whole lot of help.

According to the personal finance website, the average holiday budget in Flower Mound is $3,531 per person, the third highest in the nation.

The town's 2021 population of 77,243 (per the U.S. Census) boasts a median income $139,703 and earlier this year was named by Ventured.com as the richest city in Texas.

In spite of an increase over last year's gift list totals, Flower Mound dropped to the third spot after being ranked No. 1 last year with a budget of $3,427. Newton, Massachusetts (budget $4,233) and Palo Alto, California (budget $3,920) edged out the Texas city this year.

Flower Mound was the only Texas city in the top 10, but there's plenty of holiday cheer to be found in the report, and not just for Flower Mound Santa fans.

Each year, WalletHub calculates the maximum holiday budget for over 550 U.S. cities "to help consumers avoid post-holiday regret," the website says. The study factors in income, age of the population, and other financial indicators such as debt-to-income ratio, monthly-income-to monthly-expenses ratio and savings-to-monthly-expenses ratio.

Despite nationwide focus on inflation strains, holiday spending is expected to be healthy, and higher than last year.

"The seeming social upheaval in recent times may lead households to spend more in an attempt to take some control of the environment which they can control," says Robert Wright, University of Illinois, Springfield professor emeritus who was among five experts consulted for advice about holiday shopping.

This could be good news if your Christmas wishes are on local shopping lists. Eight other North Texas cities landed in this year's top 100 heftiest holiday budgets:

Allen, No. 17 , $2,670
Frisco, No. 37, $2,150
McKinney, No. 45, $2,070
Plano, No. 50, $1,999
Carrollton, No. 55, $1,837
Richardson, No. 58, $1,823
North Richland Hills, No. 81, $1,658
Lewisville, No. 90, $1,630

For comparison, the website provided an average consumer profile for Dallas:

Average Consumer Profile of Dallas:

Monthly Income: $4,833
Monthly Expenses: $3,755
Savings: $12,846
Age: 33.7
Monthly Income-to-Monthly Expenses Ratio: 1.29
Savings-to-Monthly Expenses Ratio: 3.42

This landed Dallas at No. 401 out of 558 cities with an average holiday budge of $845, while Fort Worth landed at No. 318 with a budget of $986.

Elsewhere in Texas, spending in the Austin area won't be ho-hum with the Capitol City's budget of $1,705 ranked at No. 78. One Austin suburb, Cedar Park (budget $2,855) ranked No. 14.

Santa's bag could be a mixed bag in the Houston area with four suburbs in the top 100, but the urban center falling behind:

Sugar Land, No. 15, $2,793
League City, No. 20, $2,541
Pearland, No. 36, $2,172
The Woodlands, No. 71, $1,733
Houston, No. 366, $890

Things don't look too jolly for San Antonio, ranked at No. 431 with an average budget of $803 or Pharr, which was the lowest ranked city in Texas.

At No. 553 with a budget of $487, the city came in just a few spots ahead of last place Hartford, CT with a budget of only $211.

holidays shopping

Daring to care

Kindhearted Plano ranks among the 10 most caring cities in America

Visit Plano - Facebook

Plano is one of the happiest and most caring places to be.

Plano has some of the kindest, most generous residents in the country. So says a new report that ranks the Dallas suburb the No. 10 most caring city in the United States.

The personal finance website WalletHub compared 100 of the most populated U.S. cities across 38 metrics across three key dimensions for its study, "Most Caring Cities in America (2025)". They include caring for the local community, caring for the vulnerable, and caring in the workforce.

The north Dallas suburb made a big leap over its 2023 ranking as the No. 17 most caring American city.

Out of the three main categories, Plano performed the best for its "caring for the community" rank (No. 8), which was determined based on the city's crime rates, the civic engagement of its residents, the share of a household's income donated to charity, and more.

Plano also cares for its community in other ways, whether it's through maintaining its long-held family-friendly reputation or by maintaining a pristine park system. All of these reasons contribute to why so many people are choosing to live in the second-happiest city in the nation.

Plano also ranked fairly well in the overall "caring for the vulnerable" category (No. 12), which covers child and adult poverty rates, adoption rates, availability of paid family leave, the number of rehab centers per capita, pet shelters and rescue services, and the "disability-friendliness" of employers.

Plano still has plenty of work to do when it comes to caring for its workforce, however, as the city ranked No. 71 out of all 100 U.S. cities. This metric focused on the number of first responders, healthcare professionals, teachers, and counselors per capita.

WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo says there are many factors that make cities like Plano a true "caring" and supportive place for its residents.

"The most caring cities donate a lot of money to charity and have high volunteer rates, but being a caring city overall requires much more than just giving time or money," Lupo said. "In addition, the top cities have low crime rates, environmentally-friendly residents and low rates of poverty and homelessness."

But small steps are important, too. Community care is as simple as helping an elderly neighbor unload groceries from their car, keeping a vigilant eye out for porch pirates or suspicious activity, and spending quality time with loved ones.

Plano was once again the highest ranked Texas city in WalletHub's list. Other North Texas cities that earned spots in the report include Irving (No. 36), Garland (No. 39), Fort Worth (No. 54), Arlington (No. 58), and Dallas (No. 77).

Elsewhere in Texas, Austin ranked No. 45, while San Antonio (No. 89) and Houston (No. 91) barely skirted onto the list.

The top 10 most caring U.S. cities, according to WalletHub, are:

No. 1 – Virginia Beach, Virginia
No. 2 – Scottsdale, Arizona
No. 3 – Boston, Massachusetts
No. 4 – Gilbert, Arizona
No. 5 – Chesapeake, Virginia
No. 6 – Fremont, California
No. 7 – San Diego, California
No. 8 – Madison, Wisconsin
No. 9 – Colorado Springs, Colorado
No. 10 – Plano, Texas

wallethub plano community care top 10 cities plano