Best place to celebrate Christmas? This Georgia city ranks No. 1 in the nation
A Georgia city boasts a festive spirit — and is the best place to spend Christmas, a new report finds.
Atlanta ranks No. 1 on a list of the nation’s top cities to celebrate the holiday, according to the personal finance website WalletHub.
“With inflation making Christmas celebrations, gifts, food and travel more expensive, certain cities are much better for your wallet than others during the holiday,” WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo said in a Dec. 17 report. “In addition to being affordable, the best cities have a large number of people celebrating, plenty of places for Christians to worship, populations who give generously to charity, and plenty of fun activities to enjoy with family and friends.”
To create the list, WalletHub said it studied the 100 largest cities across the country. Using data from the U.S. government and other sources, it scored each place across five categories: shopping, traditions, generosity, observance and costs.
What makes Atlanta rank No. 1 for Christmas?
Atlanta topped the list after it ranked in the top 10 for both shopping and traditions, a category that studied residents’ Christmas-related Google searches, the concentration of Christmas tree sellers and other factors.
“Atlanta is the best city for Christmas celebrations this year, with plenty of stores to help you prepare for the holiday, including an extremely high number of bakeries, holiday decoration shops and card shops per capita,” WalletHub wrote in its report.
“The giving spirit can also be felt by Atlanta residents and visitors alike, as the city has the ninth-highest percentage of people who donate clothing to charity, along with the 13th-most online donations per capita,” WalletHub wrote.
Those factors put Atlanta at No. 14 for generosity. The city also landed at No. 28 in the observance category, which considered the area’s Christian population and the presence of churches, results show.
But the capital of the Peach State didn’t fare as well when it came to costs. The prices of visitor accommodations and entertainment options made it rank just below average at No. 60.
No other Georgia cities were considered for the list. Here are the other top-ranked places for Christmas celebrations:
- Pittsburgh at No. 2
- Seattle at No. 3
- Las Vegas at No. 4
- Orlando, Florida, at No. 5
This story was originally published December 17, 2024 at 6:30 AM.
