Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone across America, it’s high time to turn our attention forward towards the crown jewel of the holiday season, with Christmas Day standing a mere three weeks away.
Come Dec. 25, various residents of the litany of states in the U.S.A. will take to whatever pastimes they choose to pass the time each Christmas Day, though certain areas are a bit more generous with their money than others.
Simply put, not everyone is feeling the spirit this season.
At BetCalifornia.com - home to California sports betting news - we wanted to see what states were the biggest grinches based on search interest scores for “Christmas” and holiday,” and the amount of money spent on gifts by the states. We then ranked the top 15 grinch states based on lowest search interest scores and less money spent on gifts. The Google Trends search was conducted between November 3, 2024 – December 3, 2024.
Wisevoter.com was the source for the amount of money spent on gifts.
Rank | State | Avg. Rank |
1 | Louisiana | 3 |
2 | Alabama | 4 |
3 | New York | 4.5 |
4 | Oklahoma | 5.5 |
T-5 | Vermont | 7 |
T-5 | California | 7 |
T-7 | Oregon | 8 |
T-7 | Arkansas | 8 |
T-7 | Alaska | 8 |
10 | Hawaii | 8.5 |
11 | New Mexico | 9.5 |
12 | Wyoming | 10 |
13 | Idaho | 10.5 |
14 | Washington | 12 |
15 | Nevada | 12.5 |
This Christmas, it seems like Golden State residents should take a page out of the residents of Whoville’s playbook, embracing more of the love and generosity that makes the holiday season special.
We say that because California’s average ranking when it came to the topics we chose to determine our national grinch rankings finished up at 7, ranking the West Coast state in a tie with Vermont as the fifth "grinchiest" state in America, behind No. 4 Oklahoma (5.5 average ranking) and three states (Alaska, Arkansas and Oregon) that were tied for seventh nationally with an average ranking of 8 apiece.
Nationally, the grinchiest states wound up being Louisiana (3 average ranking), Alabama (4 average ranking), New York (4.5 average ranking) and Oklahoma, while California finished ahead of places like Hawaii, which was 10th nationally with an average ranking of 8.5, while New Mexico (9.5 average ranking), Wyoming (10 average ranking), Idaho (10.5 average ranking), Washington (12 average ranking) and Nevada (12.5 average ranking) rounded out our list for 2024.
For Californians, the theme of this year’s grinch list is that residents of the nation’s most populous state should embrace the spirit of The Whos and shirk the self-centered ways of the Grinch, making the holiday season more enjoyable for all involved.
USA Today photo by Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger.
Author
Christopher Boan is the lead writer at BetCalifornia.com, specializing in sports betting issues in the western United States. He's covered sports and sports betting in Arizona for more than seven years, including stops at ArizonaSports.com, the Tucson Weekly and the Green Valley News.
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