Six Dallas-Fort Worth cities ranked among the top Best Cities to Go for Thanksgiving by WalletHub for 2021. Irving scored the 20th spot, followed by Dallas at 44th, Garland at 55th, Fort Worth at 69th, and Arlington at 87th.
“Irving ranks high for giving thanks as it has the fifth most volunteer opportunities per capita,” said Jill Gonzalez, an analyst with WalletHub. “The city also ranked high in terms of the perception of safety walking alone during daylight or night and the number of holiday decoration shops per capita.”
The WalletHub study further found that Irving ranks 64th for vaccinations with 51.27% fully vaccinated residents.
“We measured the impact of the pandemic by factoring in the percentage of residents who are fully vaccinated,” Gonzalez told Dallas Express.
What kept Irving from ranking among the top 10 in the city’s 69% forecasted Thanksgiving precipitation.
“That’s not something the city can change,” Gonzalez said in an interview. “The areas where it could improve, however, include traffic congestion, the prevalence of affordable restaurants, and the Driving Under the Influence (DUI) related fatalities in motor vehicle crashes around Thanksgiving.”
Atlanta landed the top spot because it has the most Thanksgiving events and holiday decoration shops per capita.
Events are defined as Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant or attending other parties and celebrations during the holiday.
“Atlanta also has a high prevalence of affordable restaurants and the second–lowest share of delayed flights near the Thanksgiving holiday, less than 9%,” Gonzalez said. “Other factors that contributed to Atlanta’s ranking include a large number of charity organizations per capita, the fact that it has the third–highest share of income donated to charity, over 7%, and the fact that the weather on Thanksgiving will be warmer than average.”
Overall, six DFW metroplex cities and 13 Texas cities ranked in the Top 100, including Houston, Dallas, Laredo, Corpus Christi, Fort Worth, Plano, and Arlington.
“The ranking indicates that Dallas metro and the state of Texas are great places to go to for Thanksgiving, where you can safely and affordably enjoy celebrations,” Gonzalez said.
Fort Worth and Arlington ranked in the bottom half of the top 100 due to a low number of Thanksgiving events per capita, a low percentage of fully vaccinated residents, and a high crime rate.
“They also have large shares of delayed flights near the Thanksgiving holiday, more than 15%, traffic congestion, a low number of charity organizations per capita, and high precipitation forecasted for Thanksgiving,” Gonzalez said.
According to the study, the average cost of a Thanksgiving dinner for a family in Irving is $45.85 compared to $49.25 in Atlanta, $43.15 in Houston, $46.85 in Dallas, $45.59 in Fort Worth, and $45.12 in Plano.
Plano and Dallas ranked No. 27 and No. 44 on the list, respectively.
“Dallas and Plano have a large share of delayed flights near the Thanksgiving holiday, traffic congestion, and high precipitation forecasted for the holiday,” Gonzalez said.
Houston’s share of delayed flights is 12.63% while Dallas and Irving are tied at 15.14%.
Laredo and Corpus Christi scored higher than Irving on the list for their weather.
“In Irving, the temperature will be the average one typically registered, but there is a 69% chance of precipitation,” Gonzalez added. “The weather in both Laredo and Corpus Christi will be much warmer than average on Thanksgiving. Plus, there is no precipitation forecast for the holiday in Laredo and only 3% in Corpus Christi.”