While more than 90% of Americans celebrate the Christmas holiday, not everyone is happy about it. Between cold temperatures, early sunsets, and holiday shopping stress, there are plenty of people who feel a bit Grinchy this time of year. FinanceBuzz looked at the grinchiness of cities across the U.S.. They analyzed nearly two dozen metrics across the 50 biggest U.S. cities to measure which cities are full of cheer or just full of it this holiday season
The Grinchiness index
New York City takes the roast beast as the Grinchiest city in America. The Big Apple has America’s lowest rates of holiday decoration shops, Christmas tree lots gift shops, and food banks. Additionally, only 23.3% of New Yorkers volunteer annually — the fourth-lowest percentage in the country.
Los Angeles is only slightly less Grinchy than the Big Apple. LA features just 2.4 shopping centers per 100,000 people — the lowest rate in the country. The percentage of Angelenos that volunteer is among the lowest in the country. The percentage of LA denizens that donates at least $25 to charity annually is in the bottom 10.
Just a few hours from Grinchy NYC, the two cities with the most holiday cheer. Hartford, Connecticut, and Providence, Rhode Island finished high in holiday metrics like the number of ice rinks, Christmas tree lots, gift shops, holiday festivals and events.
What is Detroit’s Grichiness?
The Motor City scored just below average for holiday grinchiness. Motown’s overall score grinchiness score is 44.5. According to FinanceBuzz, the average is 45.1 The article says the lower the score, the higher the “Grinchiest.” The details.
Detroit ranked 15 for holiday season of giving score with an 11. The holiday season of giving score includes:
- Number of food banks.
- Number of homeless shelters.
- Percentage of the population that volunteers annually.
- Percentage of the population that donates at least $25 to charity annually.
The Motor City ranked number 19 on communal celebrations and decor with an 8.3 result. The communal celebrations and decor score includes the number of:
- Holiday events and festivals.
- Ice-skating rinks.
- Holiday decoration shops.
- Christmas tree farms/lots/shops.
Detroit scored 5.7 points in the holiday shopping. That was only good enough to be ranked 26. The holiday shopping score is made up of the number of holiday markets, toy stores, gift shops, department stores, shopping centers and malls.
The D scored 15.8 on the holiday jeer category. This score put Detroit in 13th place for holiday jeeriness. Holiday jeeriness was measured by looking at Google Trends score over the last five years these anti-Christmas terms; “bah humbug”, “I hate Christmas”, “Christmas sucks”, and “the Grinch.”
Detroit ranked very low for holiday cheer at 47th place, with a score of 3.8. The study look at Google Trends score for Christmas terms over the last five years. The holiday cheer phrases the searched for were:
- “Christmas Party”
- “Christmas Lights”
- “Christmas Concert”
- “Christmas Festival”
- “Christmas Market”
- “Christmas Dinner”
Other cities in the region grinchiness score
- Chicago = 24.7
- Columbus= 30
- Indianapolis = 33.8
- Cleveland = 54.3,
The average score of the 50 metropolitan areas studies score was 45.1
| City | Overall city score |
|---|---|
| Hartford, CT | 74.8 |
| Providence, RI | 74.8 |
| Minneapolis, MN | 70.7 |
| Orlando, FL | 68.3 |
| Pittsburgh, PA | 65.8 |
| Riverside, CA | 62.7 |
| Atlanta, GA | 62.5 |
| Salt Lake City, UT | 62 |
| Baltimore, MD | 60 |
| Cincinnati, OH | 58.9 |
| St. Louis, MO | 57.6 |
| Buffalo, NY | 57.3 |
| Milwaukee, WI | 55.2 |
| Cleveland, OH | 54.3 |
| Richmond, VA | 52.2 |
| Birmingham, AL | 52.1 |
| Tampa, FL | 50.1 |
| Miami, FL | 49.8 |
| Seattle, WA | 48.4 |
| Portland, OR | 47 |
| Raleigh, NC | 45.6 |
| Detroit, MI | 44.5 |
| Denver, CO | 43.4 |
| Kansas City, MO | 43.4 |
| Boston, MA | 43.3 |
| Washington, DC | 42.5 |
| New Orleans, LA | 42.4 |
| San Francisco, CA | 40 |
| Sacramento, CA | 38.8 |
| San Jose, CA | 38.4 |
| Las Vegas, NV | 36.4 |
| Nashville, TN | 35.3 |
| Charlotte, NC | 35.1 |
| Louisville, KY | 34.9 |
| Virginia Beach, VA | 34.9 |
| San Diego, CA | 34.4 |
| Indianapolis, IN | 33.8 |
| Austin, TX | 33.7 |
| Philadelphia, PA | 31.9 |
| Jacksonville, FL | 31.6 |
| Houston, TX | 30.8 |
| Oklahoma City, OK | 30.5 |
| Columbus, OH | 30 |
| Dallas, TX | 29.7 |
| Phoenix, AZ | 28.3 |
| Memphis, TN | 25.7 |
| Chicago, IL | 24.7 |
| San Antonio, TX | 22.7 |
| Los Angeles, CA | 19.6 |
| New York, NY | 18.9 |
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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.