The 2022 Holiday Season
This holiday season is a time to celebrate, reflect, exchange gifts and give thanks. To commemorate this time of year, the U.S. Census Bureau presents the following holiday-related facts and figures from its vast collection of statistics.
The following facts are made possible by the invaluable responses to the Census Bureau’s surveys. We appreciate the public’s cooperation as we continuously measure America’s people, places and economy.
Did You Know?
$17.1 billion
The estimated retail sales for the nation’s department stores in December 2021, an increase of 17.8% from $14.5 billion in December 2020.
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13.3%
The estimated percentage that December sales accounted for of total hobby, toy and game store sales in 2021.
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$113.9 billion
The estimated value of retail sales by electronic shopping and mail-order houses in December 2021, the highest estimated total for any month last year.
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$58.6 billion
The fourth quarter 2021 seasonally adjusted after-tax profits for retail trade corporations with assets of $50 million and over, up $11.9 billion from the third quarter of 2021.
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$2.9 billion
The value of U.S. imports of Christmas decorations from China for 2021. China led the way with 91.3% of the U.S. total imports of Christmas decorations.
Source: International Trade Statistics, Harmonized System Codes 9505.10 (Christmas decorations)
$550.3 million
The value of U.S. imports of Christmas tree lights for 2021. Cambodia led the way with 61.9% of the total U.S. imports of Christmas tree lights.
Source: International Trade Statistics, Harmonized System Code 9405.30 (Lighting sets of any kind used for Christmas Trees)
Source: International Trade Statistics, Harmonized System Code 9405.30 (Lighting sets of any kind used for Christmas Trees)
489 establishments
The number of employer establishments nationwide that primarily produced dolls, toys and games in 2020, a decrease of 26 establishments from 2019 (515 establishments); they employed 5,800 workers in the pay period including March 12, a decrease of 468 employees from 2019 (6,268 employees). California led the nation with 85 establishments in 2020.
Source: County Business Patterns
$1.09 billion
The value of U.S. imports of tapered candles in 2021. Most of these came from Vietnam, representing more than 53.48% of America’s imported tapered candles, followed by Canada with 16.99%.
Source: International Trade Statistics, Harmonized System Code 3406 (Candles, tapers, and the like)
Holiday Names
There are many holiday-sounding places in the United States. For example, more than a dozen areas have Holly in their names, including Holly Pond, Ala. (857); Holly Grove, Ark. (451); Holly, Colo. (840); Holly Hill, Fla. (13,021); Holly Springs, Ga. (17,473); Holly Village, Mich. (5,958); Holly Springs, Miss. (6,565); Mount Holly, N.C. (population 17,966); and Holiday Hills, Ill. (617).
There’s also Snowflake, Ariz. (6,364); Santa Claus, Ind. (2,579); North Pole, Alaska (2,285); Noel, Mo. (2,125); Joy, Ill. (364); and — if you know about reindeer — Dasher, Ga. (894), and Rudolph, Wis. (436). There is also Unity, Ore. (42), and Garland, Texas (242,035).
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Observances in our Facts for Features series:
- National Black History Month (February)
- Women's History Month (March)
- Irish-American Heritage Month (March)
- Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (May)
- The Fourth of July
- Anniversary of Americans With Disabilities Act (July 26)
- National Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15 – Oct. 15)
- Halloween (Oct. 31)
- National Native American Heritage Month (November)
- Veterans Day (Nov. 11)
- Holiday Season (November — December)
Editor’s note: These data come from a variety of sources and may be subject to sampling variability and other sources of error. We generally release Facts for Features about two months before observances to accommodate magazine production timelines. For more information, contact the Census Bureau’s Public Information Office at (301)763-3030 or <pio@census.gov>.
Profile America's Facts for Features provides statistics related to observances and holidays not covered by Stats for Stories. For observances not listed above, visit our Stats for Stories webpage.
Stats for Stories provides links to timely story ideas highlighting newsworthy Census Bureau statistics that relate to current events, observances, holidays and anniversaries. The story ideas are intended to assist the media in story mining and producing content for their audiences. Dates with presidential proclamations are marked with (P).