Bah Humbug, Y'All: Texas Ranked Among Grinchiest States

AUSTIN, TX — Texas is a state of wide open spaces, but it may also be awash with curmudgeons if the findings of a recent study finding the state to be among the nation's most grinchy are to be believed.

With the holiday season upon us, researchers at GetCenturyLink sought to find which states have the most and least Christmas spirit across a variety of metrics. The upshot: Texas ranked eighth among the states with the least Christmas spirit.

That's even grinchier than last year, when the Lone Star State ranked 13th, researchers noted. This year, we're sandwiched between Delaware and New Mexico, and a couple of notches below New Jersey where people don't mince words in expressing displeasure.

To achieve its rankings, the GetCenturyLink data analysis team analyzed figures under two main categories, online activity and area culture. The categories were then analyzed across ten metrics before calculating the weighted average for each state against the criteria.

Texas cracked the top ten in the reckoning. Here's the methodology breakdown:

Online activity

• Google searches for Christmas movies and gingerbread houses (29 percent).
• Online shopping via Google shopping trends for wrapping paper, Christmas cards, Christmas ornaments, and “elf on a shelf” (28 percent).
• Christmas music streaming (14.5 percent).
• Tweeting about Christmas (7 percent).

Area culture

• Number of Christmas tree farms per capita (7 percent).
• Charitable giving (14.5 percent).

Graphic courtesy of GetCenturyLink.

If you care to learn more (or not, who cares right?), here is the list detailing the degree of Christmas spirit per state, ranked highest to lowest:

1. Tennessee
2. North Carolina
3. Utah
4. Ohio
5. Alabama
6. South Carolina
7. Pennsylvania
8. Oregon
9. Rhode Island
10. Kansas
11. Maine
12. New Hampshire
13. Missouri
14. Idaho
15. Vermont
16. South Dakota
17. Iowa
18. Wisconsin
19. West Virginia
20. Montana
21. Washington
22. Nebraska
23. Massachusetts
24. Mississippi
25. Kentucky
26. Indiana
27. Connecticut
28. Oklahoma
29. Colorado
30. Virginia
31. Maryland
32. Georgia
33. New York
34. Minnesota
35. Arkansas
36. Illinois
37. Wyoming
38. North Dakota
39. Louisiana
40. Alaska
41. Michigan
42. Delaware
43. Texas
44. New Mexico
45. New Jersey
46. Arizona
47. Florida
48. California
49. Hawaii
50. Nevada

You're likely getting grumpier as this story drags on interminably, but here are some interesting finds from the study:

• The bottom five states (Nevada, Hawaii, California, Florida, and Arizona) all share a low chance of having a white Christmas. Perhaps the lack of snow points to why it’s harder for these warmer states to tap into their Holiday cheer.
• Tennessee has the most Christmas spirit, scoring a top ten ranking in the categories Christmas tweets, Christmas music listening, and Google searches for “Christmas movies.”
• Alaska scored a sad ranking of 40th overall, but it snagged the #1 ranking in two different categories: Christmas tweets and searches for "Christmas Cards" on Google shopping.

Suspend your curmudgeonly ways to read the full report by clicking here.