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.

Did you know?

$17.1 billion – That’s 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. 

13.3% - That’s the estimated percentage that December sales accounted for of total hobby, toy, and game store sales in 2021. 

$113.9 - That’s 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.

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).

Happy Holidays from all of us at Quikstone Capital Solutions!