NEW YORK (WWTI) – For the fifth year in a row Century Link has uncovered which states have the most Christmas spirit.
In the Century Link report, Christmas spirit was measured with custom-weighted percentages.
The report also used Pollfish to survey 1,000 Americans on attitudes and habits around celebrating Christmas, with data gathered in September 2022.
Percentages to assign rankings are:
- 29%: Google searches for, “Christmas movies” and “Gingerbread houses”;
- 28%: Google Shopping trends for, “Wrapping paper”, “Christmas cards”, “Christmas ornaments”, and “Elf on a Shelf”;
- 14.5%: Christmas music streaming;
- 7%: Tweets about Christmas during December 2021;
- 21.5%: Christmas-related cultural markers;
- 7%: Number of Christmas tree farms per capita; and
- 14.5%: Charitable giving in the last documented tax year.
New York comes in at number 48 on the list with a bit of Scrooge or Grinch-like quality, but the Empire State comes in at the top of the list for most tax-deductible charitable giving, ranked third, with Texas coming in second and California in first, according to the IRS.
The full 2022 Christmas spirit list ranked from most to least:
| State | 2022 Rank | State | 2022 Rank |
| New Hampshire | 1 | North Carolina | 27 |
| Wisconsin | 2 | Idaho | 28 |
| Utah | 3 | Missouri | 29 |
| West Virginia | 4 | Kansas | 30 |
| Pennsylvania | 5 | Louisiana | 31 |
| Ohio | 6 | Washington | 32 |
| Kentucky | 7 | Tennessee | 33 |
| Indiana | 8 | California | 34 |
| New Jersey | 9 | Texas | 35 |
| Delaware | 10 | Iowa | 36 |
| Vermont | 11 | New Mexico | 37 |
| Michigan | 12 | Arkansas | 38 |
| Alaska | 13 | Georgia | 39 |
| Massachusetts | 14 | Colorado | 40 |
| North Dakota | 15 | Maryland | 41 |
| Nebraska | 16 | Florida | 42 |
| South Dakota | 17 | Virginia | 43 |
| Maine | 18 | Oklahoma | 44 |
| Rhode Island | 19 | Nevada | 45 |
| Connecticut | 20 | Wyoming | 46 |
| Arizona | 21 | Mississippi | 47 |
| Illinois | 22 | New York | 48 |
| Montana | 23 | Oregon | 49 |
| Minnesota | 24 | Alabama | 50 |
| Hawaii | 25 | District of Columbia | 51 |
| South Carolina | 26 |
Century Link’s report also includes the follow statistics:
- Happiness is the strongest emotion people feel about Christmas with 57% saying it’s the one time of year they get to see loved ones.
- A belief in Santa: most say they stopped believing between the ages of 5 and 9.
- Holiday plans are broken down by generation with 31% of Gen Z and 33% of Millennials planning to host family at home, while 37% of Gen X and 47% of Baby Boomers plan to stay home and have no visitors.
- Christmas since the COVID-19 pandemic: 43% haven’t changed the way they spend the holiday and 30% report making a more significant effort to see family.
- Keeping Christmas Traditions: most Gen Z, Millennials and Gen X plan to keep the same traditions, while 50% of Boomers keep fewer traditions than before.
Christmas spending is also broken down by generation in the report with 33% of Gen Z and 30% of Millennials spending more, 41% of Gen X spending less and 29% of Baby Boomers spending far less-but an equal amount is spending slightly more.
Century Link’s full report is available on their website.
