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

Animal News

Hunt County man arrested for animal cruelty to puppy from Dallas

SPCA

Jacob Paul Nichols arrested for animal cruelty in Hunt County, Texas.

On Tuesday, June 17, a resident of Greenville, Texas was arrested for animal cruelty after allegedly letting a puppy starve to death.

According to a release, Jacob Paul Nichols was arrested and charged with Texas Penal Code 42.092, Cruelty to Non-Livestock Animals (b)(1) after allegedly torturing his puppy over a span of several months, causing unjustifiable pain and suffering which ultimately resulted in her death — a felony of the third degree.

Nichols was located and arrested in Johnson County where he was booked into Johnson County Jail and held on a $200,000 bond.

On June 6, SPCA of Texas’ Animal Cruelty Investigations (ACI) Unit Chief Investigator was contacted by the ever-diligent Hunt County Sheriff’s Office in reference to a deceased puppy that was discovered inside a dumpster at a Greenville apartment complex.

The small tan puppy was found lying on her side in a medium-sized crate. She was emaciated and had sharp, overgrown nails.

An SPCA of Texas Investigator took the puppy to the SPCA's Russell E. Dealey Animal Rescue Center for a forensic necropsy. The exam showed the puppy was 5.5 months old and weighed only 7.6 pounds when she died. She perished due to long-term starvation and dehydration, and had suffered for a prolonged period of time.

The puppy had a microchip, which revealed that she had been adopted by a Dallas resident from a North Texas animal shelter in January 2025. The puppy, named Sandy, was rehomed to Nichols on February 13 through a rehoming website that allows potential adopters to be screened prior to rehoming. (The release does not identify the adopter or explain why the adopter was dumping the puppy after only a month of ownership.)

Nichols signed a contract stating that he agreed to “care for the pet in a humane and responsible manner and to provide him/her with clean and adequate shelter, food, water and veterinary care.”

The SPCA of Texas ACI Unit confirmed with Nichols that the dog had been in his care. Interviews with Nichols and other witnesses revealed evidence that the dog had been neglected over a span of months and left to die in the crate without food or water.

“No animal deserves to suffer in silence the way this puppy did. The evidence indicates that she was trapped, neglected and ultimately starved to death over a span of months,” said SPCA of Texas’ ACI Unit Chief Investigator Courtney Burns, CAWA. “The level of cruelty in this case is staggering, and the SPCA of Texas and Hunt County Sheriff’s Office are committed to ensuring justice is served.”

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