WASHINGTON — Is D.C. really a city full of Scrooges? The answer is yes, according to a data analysis by the team at internet service provider CenturyLink.
For the second year in a row, the District has placed 51 out of 51 states by holiday cheer. The CenturyLink team used data points like Google searches for Christmas movies and gingerbread houses, Google shopping trends for wrapping paper, Christmas cards and Christmas ornaments, Christmas music streaming numbers and tweets about Christmas to come up with the final list.
It also factored in the number of Christmas trees per capita, and charitable giving in the last documented tax year, as defined by the IRS.
After crunching the numbers, CenturyLink found that while D.C. tweets about Christmas the most, the other factors put it at the bottom.
Virginia and Maryland didn't do much better on the list, with the commonwealth coming in at No. 47, and Maryland at 46. New York, the setting of countless Christmas movies and the site of one of the most famous Christmas trees in the world, ranked 50th.
Good grief!
Meanwhile, New Hampshire, Maine and Montana took the top three spots on the list.
It is worth noting that the methodology of this study focused specifically on the Christmas holiday. Given the diversity of the DMV, it's possible we have more overall holiday spirit than elsewhere.