Holiday Best

San Antonio sleighs its way into the top 10 of most festive U.S. cities

San Antonio Christmas Light Fest Don Strange Ranch Santa train

San Antonio is the No. 10 most festive U.S. city, according to Thumbtack.

San Antonio Christmas Light Fest at the Don Strange Ranch/Facebook

As San Antonioans start to decorate their homes and make plans for festive holiday happenings around the city, we might take for granted that our Yuletide cheer is one of the best in the country. In fact, one recent study names San Antonio the No. 10 most festive city in the U.S., with three other Texas cities landing in the top 10.

Thumbtack, an app helping millions of homeowners care for their homes, compiled data from millions of home projects across all 50 states to reveal their list of the Most Festive Cities in the U.S.

The company used data from consumer requests on their platform between January 2022 to November 2022 for holiday lighting installations and removals. Basing their rankings on the relative frequency of such requests adjusted for the population of state and metropolitan areas, four Texas cities made the list, with three in the top five.

The most festive cities in the U.S. based on Thumbtack’s findings are:

Austin, Texas
Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas
Seattle, Washington
Houston, Texas
Denver, Colorado
Phoenix, Arizona
Atlanta, Georgia
San Francisco, California
Kansas City, Missouri
San Antonio, Texas

According to the release, the average cost to hire a holiday lighting pro is $168-$300 and wrapping outdoor trees with holiday lights can cost $60-plus, depending on the type, shape, and height of the tree. Thumbtack's findings suggest the second to last week of November (21-27) is the most popular time of year to hang holiday lights.

“Christmas light installers book very quickly once the holiday season is in gear, so plan to call and schedule your installation as early as possible,” states David Steckel, Home Expert at Thumbtack, in the release. “Putting up lights is a festive way to decorate your house, but it can also be time-consuming, stressful, and dangerous. Instead of taking the risk of falling off a ladder and spending the holidays on crutches or starting an electrical fire, hire a professional who will go over your options to make your vision come to life and use the right special equipment to hang everything safely and properly."

To read more about the most festive U.S. cities and a list of tips and tricks to save money on home holiday decorations this year, check out the full report at Thumbtack.

hottest headlines of 2024

10 most popular stories that capture city life in San Antonio in 2024

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Readers were mostly drawn to data about schools and finance, but tree health took precedent.

Editor's note: At the end of 2024, we're looking back at the stories that shaped San Antonio this year. In the case of CultureMap's City Life section, it was actually the other way around: San Antonians were most interested in gathering data and understanding where the city stands against others nationally. This year, we looked into education, income, and retirement. Yet taking care of trees outshined it all. Here are San Antonio's top 10 city stories of 2024.

1. Texas tree group issues dire warning to San Antonio owners of oak trees. A nonprofit dedicated to trees issued a warning to Texas citizens who own oak trees: Put down the pruning shears to avoid oak wilt.

2. Stellar San Antonio high school ranks among America's best in 2024, says U.S. News. The 2024 rankings put BASIS San Antonio - Shavano Campus at No. 64 nationally. The school also ranked No. 13 nationally among the best charter schools and No. 76 among the best STEM high schools.

3. 3 San Antonio-area companies hailed best places to work by U.S. News. Frost Bank, iHeartMedia, and the New Braunfels-based Rush Enterprises, Inc. made the list, which considered work-life balance, quality of pay, stability, and more.

4. 2 San Antonio neighbors relax among best places to retire in the Hill Country. New Braunfels and Boerne hung up their hats with other small towns with relatively low costs of living, low crime rates, and a variety of attractions.

5. San Antonio university ranks No. 18 among best small colleges in U.S. Trinity University has made the high honor roll. The esteemed San Antonio university ranks among America's top 20 small colleges and liberal arts colleges for 2025 by Niche.

6. 2 San Antonio billionaires land on Forbes' new list of richest Americans. Charles Butt and Eleanor Butt Crook, the chairman and a member of the board of directors of H-E-B, respectively, had estimated net worths of $8.9 billion and $3.7 billion.

7. San Antonio is the No. 4 most educated city in the country, says Forbes. In San Antonio, the bachelor’s completion rate for people 25 and up was 67.30 percent, and 29.56 percent of people in that age group have advanced degrees.

8. San Antonio university ranks No. 3 among best Texas colleges for 2025. Trinity University does it again. The private university performed the best in the category for best admission rates, ranking No. 2 with a 28 percent acceptance rate, according to U.S. News & World Report.

Trinity University aerial shot Trinity University made two appearances in this top 10 list.Trinity University/Facebook

9. This is how much it costs to raise a child in San Antonio. Raising a child certainly isn't cheap. In San Antonio and New Braunfels, annual costs of raising just one child can add up to more than $21,000 every year — and that wasn't even that high compared to the rest of the list.

10. Here's what it takes to be a middle class earner in San Antonio in 2024.According to the 2024 edition of SmartAsset's annual report, middle class households in San Antonio would need to make between $39,215 and $117,658.