Five-hundred and seventy-six dollars. That’s the average holiday budget for someone who lives in Columbus, according to a new report from WalletHub.com. If that sounds like a lot of money, the number is actually pretty average compared to other cities around the country.
Some of the cities at the top of the charts include Palo Alto with an average shopping budget of $2,821, League City, Texas with $2,362 and Sugar Land, Texas with $2,334. The highest Ohio cities in the charts include Parma, where citizens will spend an average of $931 on gifts for friends and loved ones, Lorain at $420, Toledo at $417 and Akron at $402.
Cincinnati landed in sixth-from-last-place with a stingy average holiday shopping budget of just $122.
Collectively, national spending on holiday shopping is expected to climb 3.6 percent over last year’s numbers to a grand total of $656 billion.
Meanwhile, in a somewhat related report from WalletHub.com, it was determined that deal-seeking shoppers who plan to hit the streets on Black Friday can get the most bang for their buck by visiting some very specific retail outlets. Macy’s was named the number one shopping spot with an average discount of 63.4 percent during Black Friday sales.
Other top retail outlets for deep discounts that can be found in Central Ohio include JCPenny, Harbor Freight, Kohl’s and Sears. At the bottom of the national list was Columbus-based Big Lots with an average Black Friday discount of a mere 23.5 percent.
For more info, visit wallethub.com/edu/holiday-budgets-by-city/16912/ and wallethub.com/edu/best-worst-retailers-for-black-friday/.