Dallas ranks among the top 10 cities with the least holiday spirit, according to FinanceBuzz. The website ranked 50 of the largest U.S. cities in order of most to least “Grinchy.”
Texas had three cities among the top 10 list of lowest holiday spirits, with San Antonio at No.3, Dallas at No.7, and Houston at No.10.
FinanceBuzz gathered data to compile city scores from five different categories, which were calculated per capita. Data points were indexed and weighted to create a score between 0-20 for each category of the study.
In the Communal Celebrations and Decor category, the analysts tracked the number of holiday-themed events and festivals, holiday decor shops, ice skating rinks, and Christmas tree lots in the cities.
They also took Holiday Shopping into account, factoring in the number of holiday markets, gift shops, shopping centers, and toy stores in each city.
They tracked the Holiday Season of Giving by calculating the number of homeless shelters and food banks per capita, the number of individuals who volunteer annually in the city, and the number of people who donate at least $25 or more to charity each year.
The analysts calculated overall Holiday Cheer by using Google data to see the trending of certain words and phrases like “Christmas Party,” “Christmas Festival,” and “Christmas Dinner” in these cities over the past five years.
Lastly, they calculated Holiday Jeer using the same Google trend method. Analysts searched for the trending of key phrases such as “bah humbug,” “I hate Christmas,” and “Christmas sucks.”
The highest-scoring city and the least “Grinchy” was Hartford, Connecticut, which scored 74.8 out of a possible 100. The city’s highest scores were in Holiday Shopping (20 points) and Communal Celebrations and Decor (20 points).
Providence, Rhode Island, registered the same overall score of 74.8, earning 19.9 points for Communal Celebrations and Decor and 18.8 for Holiday Shopping.
Minneapolis came in as third-least “Grinchy,” with an overall score of 70.7. The city is notable in that 48% of the population apparently engages in volunteer service annually — the highest volunteer rate in the nation — and 62.1% of the population donates $25 or more to charity each year.
New York City was the “Grinchiest” city in the study, scoring only 18.9 points overall. The city’s highest score (11.4) was in Holiday Jeer, and its lowest score (0.7) was in Communal Celebrations and decor.
Los Angeles holds the number two spot on the “Grinchiest” list with 19.6 points, followed by San Antonio at 22.7 points.
Dallas weighed in with 29.7 points on the Grinch scale. The city’s lowest scoring category was in Holiday Shopping, with only a 2.4; however, Dallas still scored higher in this category than Chicago, Austin, Los Angeles, Jacksonville, and Oklahoma City.
Dallas’ highest scores were for both Holiday Cheer and Holiday Jeer, scoring 7.0 and 8.3, respectively.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, stands out for having the highest score (16.4) of all the cities in the Holiday Season of Giving category. Pittsburgh beat out neighboring Philadelphia — the “City of Brotherly Love” — which scored 6.2 in the same category. For comparison, Dallas scored 6.5 in the Holiday Season of Giving category.
