Chicagoans Are Frugal Holiday Spenders: Report

CHICAGO, IL — Between presents, gift wrapping, decorations and holiday meals, Christmas time is an expensive season. If you're smart, you'll set a budget to keep your spending in check. But how much do most people spend during the holiday season? That varies state to state and city to city — and according to a new study by personal finance website WalletHub, an Illinois city has the highest average holiday spending in the country.

WalletHub projects that Naperville is the American city with the highest holiday budget, with residents shelling out an average $2,381 in holiday spending. In contrast, Chicago ranked No. 17, below only Champaign and Cicero. The report revealed the average Chicagoan will spend about $600 over the holidays.

The National Retail Federation predicts the average per-person tab this holiday season will reach $967, up nearly 3.4 percent since 2016.

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WalletHub said it came up with its rankings this way: "To help consumers avoid post-holiday regret, WalletHub's analysts 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.

Here's how much Illinois cities on this year's list are expected to spend over the holidays:

1. Naperville: $2,381
2. Palatine: $1,383
3. Arlington Heights: $1,315
4. Schaumburg: $1,306
5. Skokie: $1,177
6. Joliet: $1,116
7. Bolingbrook: $884
8. Bloomington: $859
9. Springfield: $856
10. Peoria: $847
11. Aurora: $773
12. Evanston: $767
13. Waukegan: $749
14. Elgin: $713
15. Decatur: $693
16. Rockford: $693
17. Chicago: $600
18. Champaign: $529
19. Cicero: $444

Find WalletHub's full 2017 holiday spending rankings here.

Source: WalletHub

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