Shopping spree!
These Texas cities unwrap the biggest holiday budgets in the U.S.

Some Texans will be making a holiday shopping list as long as a stocking and checking it more than twice. Four Lone Star State cities rank among the 10 U.S. cities with the fattest holiday budgets for 2021, according to a new study from personal finance website WalletHub.
“To help consumers avoid post-holiday regret, WalletHub calculated the maximum holiday budget for each of 570 U.S. cities using five key characteristics of the population, such as income, age, and savings-to-monthly expenses ratio,” the website says.
Wrapping up the No. 1 spot on the national list is Flower Mound, a Dallas-Fort Worth suburb. It boasts the most Santa-friendly budget among all the cities: $3,427.
Right behind are a trio of Houston-area suburbs: The Woodlands, No. 3, $3,073; Sugar Land, No. 4, $3,023, and League City, No. 10, $2,778.
Six other Texas cities rank in the top 50:
- Allen, No. 12, $2,688.
- Pearland, No. 13, $2669.
- Frisco, No. 30, $2,133.
- Plano, No. 33, $2,044.
- Richardson, No. 43, $1,857.
- Cedar Park, No. 48, $1,770.
Among Texas' big cities, Austin is the only one that boasts a holiday budget of more than $1,000. It lands at No. 188 on the list ($1,049). Fort Worth appears at No. 257 ($920) and Dallas ranks 365th ($787). Meanwhile, San Antonio comes in at No. 371 ($783) and is followed by Houston at No. 372 ($783).
The National Retail Federation predicts a record-shattering holiday season for retail sales, growing between 8.5 percent and 10.5 percent over 2020 to between $843.4 billion and $859 billion. Meanwhile, professional services firm Deloitte envisions a 7 percent to 9 percent spike in holiday spending this year versus last year. Commercial estate services provider pegs the projected increase at 8.4 percent.
“The outlook for the holiday season looks very bright,” says Jack Kleinhenz, chief economist at the National Retail Federation. “The unusual and beneficial position we find ourselves in is that households have increased spending vigorously throughout most of 2021 and remain with plenty of holiday purchasing power.”