These Illinois Cities Have The Highest Holiday Spending

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.

That's a shift from last year, when the site estimated that Naperville would be No. 62 on the list nationwide, and Arlington Heights ($1,459) ranked as the Illinois town with the highest holiday spending, followed by Schaumburg ($1,271). Naperville was No. 3 in Illinois last year, with residents spending $1,187.

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

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.

Naperville bumped last year's top-spending city, Sugar Land, Texas, to the No. 2 spot. The lowest-spending city this year is Flint, Michigan, with an expected $69 holiday budget for residents.

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.

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