Nearly 1 in 4 people are still paying off last year’s holiday debt, with this year’s shopping about to begin in full force. Obviously, not everyone has the same budget for food, decorations and gifts.
To determine who has the biggest holiday budget, WalletHub compared 558 U.S. cities across five key metrics: income, age, debt-to-income ratio; monthly income-to-monthly expenses ratio; and savings-to-monthly expenses ratio.
The financial website said calculations are based on its “proprietary algorithm, which considers the aforementioned five factors to determine the holiday budget for a particular city.”
One Georgia city made it into the top 20. Roswell’s average budget, WalletHub calculated, came in at No. 17 with $3,115. Georgia’s next highest budget as Atlanta, which finished No. 92 with $1,740.
Seven other Peach State cities made the list, but with only a fraction of Roswell’s budget:
- No. 461: Warner Robins, $831
- No. 492: Columbus, $768
- No. 494: Savannah, $764
- No. 519: Augusta, $717
- No. 534: Macon-Bibb County, $685
- No. 535: Athens, $682
- No. 552: Albany, $576
“It is easy for people to get wrapped up in the numerous holiday promotions that retailers merchandise through attractive displays, mailouts, catalogs, giftsets, limited holiday editions, etc.,” said Pia A. Albinsson, a professor of marketing at Appalachian State University.
To keep from spending too much money, she added: “It may be advantageous to write a list of the people you are buying gifts for, set a predetermined amount about per person that fits your budget, and follow the list. Without a list, we may be tempted to buy more than we intend and thereby overspend.”
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