Hey, big spenders

Wealthy Dallas suburb boasts the 3rd biggest holiday spenders in U.S.

Christmas shopping, holiday shopping, holiday budgets

They're buying all the presents in Frisco.

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Santa and his elves get busier with every passing year, but sometimes even Kris Kringle has to use his black card to get the job done. And according to a new study by Wallethub, Santa's gonna be working overtime to fulfill the orders for residents of Frisco this holiday season.

The personal finance experts have determined Frisco is the U.S. city with the No. 3 biggest holiday spending budget in 2023. Shoppers in the affluent Dallas suburb are expected to spend $3,546 this festive season.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Frisco's estimated population of 219,587 had a median household income of $134,210.

This is Frisco's first time in the holiday shopping spotlight.The North Texas city ranked a much lower No. 37 in last year's report with an average spending budget of $2,150. Way to step it up.

The nearby city of Flower Mound is a returnee, but dropped two places from No. 3 last year into No. 5 this year. The average holiday budget for a Flower Mound household is $3,485.

Six other North Texas cities landed in this year's top 100 heftiest holiday budgets:

No. 22 – Allen ($2,964)
No. 30 – Plano ($2,566)
No. 56 – McKinney ($2,165)
No. 67 – Carrollton ($1,928)
No. 77 – Richardson ($1,809)
No. 99 – North Richland Hills ($1,706)

For comparison, WalletHub provided a profile of the average consumer in Dallas. The average consumer is around 33 years old, with a monthly income of $5,450. Their monthly expenses comes out to $4,093 per month (a 1.33 income-to-expenses ratio), and their savings adds up to $13,419.

This landed Dallas at No. 408 out of 558 U.S. cities with an average holiday budge of $943, while Fort Worth landed at No. 356 with a budget of $1,013.

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.

Shoppers will have to keep a closer eye on their bank accounts this year while they search for the best gifts for their loved ones. Many consumers are running out of savings accumulated during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Yao Jin, an associate professor of supply chain management at Miami University.

To combat overspending, Jin suggests setting hard budgets based on personal financial circumstances and develop a list of "must haves" rather than "nice to haves."

"Holiday times are festive, and retailers know that festivities can boost mood and lead to a propensity to overspend," he said in the Wallethub report. "In fact, that is also why retailers tend to have more generous return policies to both alleviate concerns of unwanted gifts and buyer’s remorse. The key to avoiding holiday overspending is for consumers to take the emotions out of the decision, to the extent possible."

Other Texas cities that made it in the top 100 include:

No. 10 – The Woodlands ($3,316)
No. 14 – Sugar Land ($3,210)
No. 31 – Pearland ($2,566)
No. 34 – Missouri City ($2,517)
No. 44 – Cedar Park ($2,354)
No. 71 – Austin ($1,877)
No. 95 – League City ($1,733)

The report and its methodology can be found on wallethub.com.

holidays christmas shopping dallas fort worth frisco flower mound reports wallethub budgeting holiday shopping

income analysis

This is the family income needed for one parent to stay home in Texas

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

With costs to raise a child soaring over $20,000 a year in Texas, some households might decide to have one parent work while the other stays at home to raise their child.

The cost of raising a child has ballooned in major metros like Dallas-Fort Worth, forcing many families to weight the choice between paying for child care or having one parent stay home full-time.

A recent analysis from SmartAsset determined the minimum income one parent needs to earn to support their partner staying at home to raise one child in all 50 states. In Texas, that amount is just under $75,000.

The study used the MIT Living Wage Calculator to compare the annual living wages needed for a household with two working adults and one child, and a household with one working adult, a stay-at-home parent, and one child. The study also calculated how much it would cost to raise a child with two working parents based on factors such as "food, housing, childcare, healthcare, transportation, incremental income taxes and other necessities."

A Texas household with one working parent would need to earn $74,734 a year to support their stay-at-home partner and their child, the report found. If both parents worked in the household, it would require an additional $10,504 in annual income to raise their child.

SmartAsset said the cost to raise a child in Texas in a two-working-parent household adds up to $23,587. Raising a child in North Texas, however, is slightly more affordable. A separate SmartAsset study from June 2025 determined it costs $22,337 to raise a child in Dallas-Fort Worth.

In the report's ranking of states with the highest minimum income needed to support a family with one working adult, a stay-at-home parent, and one child, Texas ranked 32nd on the list.

In other states like Massachusetts where raising a child can cost more than $40,000 a year, the report's author says families will look for ways to reduce any financial burdens.

"This often includes considerations around who’s going to work in the household, and whether young children will require paid daycare services while parents are occupied," the report said. "With tradeoffs abound, many parents might seek to understand the minimum income needed to keep the family afloat while allowing the other parent to stay home to raise a young child."

The top 10 states with the lowest minimum income threshold to support a three-person family on one income are:

West Virginia – $68,099
Arkansas – $68,141
Mississippi – $70,242
Kentucky – $70,408
North Dakota – $70,949
Oklahoma – $71,718
Ohio – $72,114
South Dakota – $72,218
Alabama – $72,238
Nebraska – $72,966

texas income smartasset family

Hey, big spenders

Wealthy Dallas suburb boasts the 3rd biggest holiday spenders in U.S.

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income analysis

This is the family income needed for one parent to stay home in Texas