National Report Suggests New York Isn’t a Good Place to Celebrate Thanksgiving

A national survey of the best places to spend the holidays put 2 cities from New York near the bottom of its list.

New York takes pride in being a world destination between now and New Year's Day.

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in NYC attracts people across the globe and the state becomes a magical escape for whimsical holiday displays that can't be found anywhere else.

Read More: World Famous Gingerbread Village Opening for Holiday Season

Despite this, it seems New York is losing its friendliness to out-of-state visitors in 2024.

A new study by WalletHub is out with its annual "Best Places to Go for Thanksgiving" and threw a little shade at New York this year.

The study looked into America's 100 largest cities to find where visitors can get the most bang for their buck in terms of attractions, safety, things to do, and more.

Buffalo and New York City did make the list - but they were nowhere near the top of it.

NYC ranked 42nd best overall, and was bogged down by having one of the lowest scores when it comes to affordability - which was 7th worst nationwide.

In fact, the study claimed people will spend the most on a Thanksgiving dinner in NYC this year. The Big Apple was the only East Coast city included - as the top 5 was made up of 3 cities from California and 1 from Hawaii.

NYC was also rated pooly for apparently having the lowest number of pumpkin patches per capita.

The city also got dinged for being not so charitable. When comparing the total volunteer hours per residents 16 and older, New York was found to have the fewest.

What saved the Big Apple from falling to the bottom of the pile was that it scored highly in terms of activities and traditions, which ranked 12th best nationwide.

Good thing that Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is still going strong or things would have looked a lot different.

Even lower on the list was Buffalo, which was dragged down by having the 10th worst "giving thanks" score on the list.

The Upstate City also lost ground for being 61st best in the traditions and "things to do" category.

Shockingly, it fared even better than NYC when it came to its holiday weather, ranking 45th best in the nation.  NYC's Thanksgiving forecast was rated 63rd best.

In all, this latest survey is a head scratcher. While New York is a relatively expensive state to spend the holidays, it offers some of the most unique experiences around the holidays.

While our weather may be colder than a majority of the country, this is one state that is never boring around the holidays. Than again, I'm just one person and I could be wrong.

Do you think Buffalo and New York City deserved their lukewarm rating this year? Let us know by giving us a shout via the station app below.

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