put it on santa's amex

Well-to-do Dallas suburb lands on top-10 list of holiday big spenders

Flower Mound residents looove to do up the holidays.

It looks like Santa Claus is going to be competing with residents in Flower Mound to see who brings the most lavish holiday gifts this year.

Festive Flo-Mo ranked No. 7 in WalletHub's annual report on U.S. cities with the biggest holiday budgets in 2024.

Residents in this well-to-do Dallas suburb are expected to spend $3,541 on their Christmas gifts this year. That's up a tad from the $3,485 they were projected to spend in the 2023 ranking when the city ranked No. 5.

The U.S. Census Bureau says that Flower Mound's estimated population of 79,445 had a median household income of $154,471 in 2023. No wonder they have the extra cash to spare.

Flower Mound consistently makes the list of the top 10 U.S. cities with the biggest holiday spenders, outshining its nearby neighbor Frisco, which took a precarious drop this year from their previous high ranking of No. 3 in 2023.

They've now fallen off the top-10 list altogether. The average holiday budget in Frisco is still an exorbitant amount – $3,412 – but that only garnered the city No. 11 in the overall ranking out of 558 U.S. cities. You gotta spend to stay on top.

The No. 1 city in the U.S. for biggest holiday spenders in 2024 is Newton, Massachusetts, a wealthy suburb right outside of Boston, where the median income measured in 2022 was $176,373. Slots 2 through 5 were all cities in California's Silicon Valley: Sunnyvale, Palo Alto, Mountain View, and Milpitas.

Seven additional North Texas cities landed in this year's top 100 biggest holiday budgets, including:

No. 18 – Allen ($3,070)
No. 32 – Plano ($2,658)
No. 45 – North Richland Hills ($2,484)
No. 52 – McKinney ($2,386)
No. 76 – Richardson ($1,980)
No. 81 – Carrollton ($1,932)
No. 92 – Lewisville ($1,848)

Meanwhile, Dallas landed at No. 213 this year with an average holiday budget of $1,406, and Fort Worth ranked No. 359 with a budget of $1,082.

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.

Whether a Dallasite's holiday budget is under $200 or more than $1,000, it's better to prioritize remaining within that budget instead of racking up the credit card bill, according to WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo.

"There are plenty of ways to enjoy the holidays and show you care without spending much money, like hosting potlucks or giving handmade gifts," said Lupo.

Other Texas cities that made it into the top 100 are:

No. 13 – The Woodlands ($3,395)
No. 15 – Sugar Land ($3,214)
No. 23 – Cedar Park ($2,930)
No. 25 – League City ($2,897)
No. 39 – Round Rock ($2,538)
No. 60 – Pearland ($2,223)
No. 87 – Austin ($1,905)

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Movie Review

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck team up for Netflix crime thriller The Rip

Photo by Claire Folger/Netflix

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon in The Rip.

For as closely tied together as Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are, it might come as a surprise how few times they’ve led a movie together. They’ve appeared alongside each other in Good Will Hunting, The Last Duel, and Air, but the only time they were on equal footing in a story was Kevin Smith’s Dogma. So the fact that they are the two true stars of the new Netflix movie The Rip makes it a rare opportunity for the longtime friends to square off against each other.

Damon and Affleck play Lt. Dane Dumars and Detective Sgt. J.D Byrne, respectively, the two highest ranking members of a Miami police department squad that specializes in drug and drug money raids. A tragedy to begin the film already has the team - which includes Detectives Mike Ro (Steven Yeun), Numa Baptiste (Teyana Taylor), and Lolo Salazar (Catalina Sandina Moreno) - on edge, with the FBI and DEA breathing down their neck.

Going off a tip, Dumars gathers the team to raid a house in nearby Hialeah that is supposed to have a stash of a relatively small amount of money. But when they get to the house occupied only by Desiree Molina (Sasha Calle), they soon discover that there’s close to $20 million there instead. The team, required by law to count the money on site, must not only fight the urge to skim a little off the top for themselves, but also worry about the Cartel and other agencies that might want a slice of the pie.

Written and directed by Joe Carnahan, the film is a surprisingly effective crime thriller made even better by its high-quality cast, which also includes Kyle Chandler as a DEA agent. The story is designed for the audience to not know who’s trustworthy until the last possible second, and the various twists and turns it takes are well done, with barely a hint of narrative cheating.

Taking place entirely at night, the mood is set right from the start, with the only surprise being that Carnahan didn’t add in rain for extra effect. He keeps things tense with a number of subtle elements, including having the house located in a seemingly deserted cul-de-sac. This allows for the characters to remain on high alert at all times, with anything out of the ordinary - an unexpected noise, a flashing light, etc. - adding to the stress of the situation.

The only element that could have used a bit more of a punch-up is the characterization. The story is set up to cast suspicion on almost everybody, making it tougher to understand exactly what type of person each of them is. As the two leads, more time is spent with Dumars and Byrne, leaving everyone else with slightly underwhelming arcs. It’s to the credit of the actors that everyone else below Damon and Affleck is still compelling.

Damon and Affleck play their sometimes friendly, sometimes adversarial roles well, showing an ease together that’s a result of their friendship and the acting skills they’ve honed over 30+ years. Taylor, an Oscar hopeful for One Battle After Another, and Oscar nominee/Emmy winner Yeun have a pedigree that elevates their supporting roles. Chandler, Moreno, and Calle each get just enough to demonstrate why they were cast in their respective roles.

Damon and Affleck have had their individual ups and downs throughout their careers, but when they choose to work together, the results are usually good-to-great, as they are in The Rip. It’s a different take on a crime thriller that features a story that will keep viewers guessing until the very end.

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The Rip is now streaming on Netflix.

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