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These Are the 25 Best Cities to Holiday Shop in America

Published: 12-13-22    Category: Insight
Luke Williams

Specializes in providing actionable insights into the commercial real estate space for investors, brokers, lessors, and lessees. He covers quarterly market data reports, investment strategies, how-to guides, and top-down perspectives on market movements.

Holiday Shopping Cities in AmericaThese are the 25 Best Cities to Holiday Shop in America

The holiday shopping season is upon us once again, and while the internet still proves to be a dominant receiver of consumer spending, the tangible and cheerful experience of window shopping, consumed by the holiday spirit, becomes an irreplaceable tradition.

If you still prefer to shop traditionally at retail stores, we’ve compiled a list of the best cities that are the most friendly towards in-person shoppers.

To find the best cities for holiday shopping in 2022, MyEListing.com analysts collected and compared data for each of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. We ranked each metro based on eight different metrics to find which ones would offer the best experience for shopping in-person at retail establishments this holiday season.

Key Findings:

  • The northeast region dominates the rankings, housing 17 of the top 25 best cities to shop in-person.
  • Pennsylvania (6 cities), New York (5), New Jersey (3), and Massachusetts (3) have the most top-ranked best holiday shopping cities.
  • The only city in the West to make the cut was Provo-Orem, Utah.
  • Eight southern cities also rank on the top 25 list, including Jackson, Mississippi, Birmingham-Hoover, Alabama, and Little Rock, Arkansas.

The 25 Best Cities to Retail Shop This Holiday Season

Here is a quick look at the top 25 cities to shop in person:

Rank Metro
1 Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA
2 Jackson, MS
3 Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI
4 Provo-Orem, UT
5 New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA
6 Birmingham-Hoover, AL
7 Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA
8 Providence-Warwick, RI-MA
9 Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT
10 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD
11 Hartford-East Hartford-Middletown, CT
12 Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY
13 North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, FL
14 Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ
15 Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH
16 Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY
17 Syracuse, NY
18 Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC
19 Richmond, VA
20 Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR
21 Springfield, MA
22 Chattanooga, TN-GA
23 Pittsburgh, PA
24 Winston-Salem, NC
25 Rochester, NY

10 Best Cities to Retail Shop This Holiday Season

For those who prefer to shop in person, here is detailed information about the 10 best cities to do so:

1). Scranton–Wilkes-Barre, PA

  • Retail shops per 100,000 people: 372
  • Retail stores per 10,000 establishments: 1,641
  • Price parity index: 98.5
  • Median earnings after housing: $50,686
  • Walk score: 60/100
  • Sales tax rate: 6.00%
  • Property crime per 100k population: 1,260
  • Number of Christmas markets: 0

2). Jackson, MS

  • Retail shops per 100,000 people: 366
  • Retail stores per 10,000 establishments: 1,618
  • Price parity index: 95.6
  • Median earnings after housing: $43,311
  • Walk score: 26/100
  • Sales tax rate: 8.00%
  • Property crime per 100k population: 2,101
  • Number of Christmas markets: 3

3). Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI

  • Retail shops per 100,000 people: 330
  • Retail stores per 10,000 establishments: 1,445
  • Price parity index: 96.4
  • Median earnings after housing: $54,433
  • Walk score: 51/100
  • Sales tax rate: 6.00%
  • Property crime per 100k population: 1,682
  • Number of Christmas markets: 2

4). Provo-Orem, UT

  • Retail shops per 100,000 people: 318
  • Retail stores per 10,000 establishments: 1,404
  • Price parity index: 95.1
  • Median earnings after housing: $69,817
  • Walk score: 44/100
  • Sales tax rate: 7.25%
  • Property crime per 100k population: 1,278
  • Number of Christmas markets: 0

5). New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA

  • Retail shops per 100,000 people: 381
  • Retail stores per 10,000 establishments: 1,311
  • Price parity index: 110.2
  • Median earnings after housing: $63,241
  • Walk score: 84/100
  • Sales tax rate: 8.88%
  • Property crime per 100k population: 1,958
  • Number of Christmas markets: 8

6). Birmingham-Hoover, AL

  • Retail shops per 100,000 people: 368
  • Retail stores per 10,000 establishments: 1,566
  • Price parity index: 95.1
  • Median earnings after housing: $49,445
  • Walk score: 25
  • Sales tax rate: 10.00%
  • Property crime per 100k population: 2,136
  • Number of Christmas markets: 2

7). Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA

  • Retail shops per 100,000 people: 312
  • Retail stores per 10,000 establishments: 1,343
  • Price parity index: 98.5
  • Median earnings after housing: $55,716
  • Walk score: 66/100
  • Sales tax rate: 5.75%
  • Property crime per 100k population: 1,166
  • Number of Christmas markets: 3

8). Providence-Warwick, RI-MA

  • Retail shops per 100,000 people: 335
  • Retail stores per 10,000 establishments: 1,365
  • Price parity index: 98.2
  • Median earnings after housing: $57,492
  • Walk score: 56/100
  • Sales tax rate: 7.00%
  • Property crime per 100k population: 1,410
  • Number of Christmas markets: 2

9). Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT

  • Retail shops per 100,000 people: 334
  • Retail stores per 10,000 establishments: 1,203
  • Price parity index: 99.0
  • Median earnings after housing: $77,230
  • Walk score: 56/100
  • Sales tax rate: 6.35%
  • Property crime per 100k population: 1,208
  • Number of Christmas markets: 0

10). Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD

  • Retail shops per 100,000 people: 306
  • Retail stores per 10,000 establishments: 1,263
  • Price parity index: 95.2
  • Median earnings after housing: $63,795
  • Walk score: 71/100
  • Sales tax rate: 8.00%
  • Property crime per 100k population: 1,954
  • Number of Christmas markets: 4

Methodology

To find the best cities for holiday shopping in 2022, MyEListing.com analysts collected and compared data for each of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. We ranked each metro based on eight different metrics to find which ones would be the best city for in-person holiday shopping.

Each measurement was normalized on a 0 to 1 scale (with 1 corresponding to the measurement that would most positively affect the final score and 0 to the measurement that would most negatively affect the final score). The eight metrics we used to score each city were:

  • Number of retail stores per 100,000 people (20%): More retail stores positively impact the score
  • Number of retail stores per 10,000 establishments (20%): More retail stores positively impact the score
  • Price Parity Index (15%): Higher index values negatively impact the score. The Regional Price Parity index score value the cost of goods compared nationally. For example, if the RPP for Washington, DC, is 120, prices in Washington are on average 20 percent higher than the U.S. average.
  • Median earnings after housing (15%): Higher median earnings positively impact the score
  • Walk Score (10%): Higher walk scores positively impact the score. Walk scores determine the accessibility of pedestrians getting around the city.
  • Total sales tax rate (10%): Higher sales tax rates negatively impact the score
  • City Property Crime per 100,000 people (5%): Higher crime rates negatively impact the score
  • Number of Christmas markets in the city (5%): More Christmas markets positively impact the score

These adjusted measurements were then weighted and added together to get a score out of 100. Each city was then ranked 1 to 100, according to its score.

Sources:

We compiled our data from the following sources:

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