(The Center Square) – A new study found that Colorado parents spend more per child than the national average this holiday season.
Parents nationwide are expected to spend $461 per child, compared to Colorado’s $538 per child. This is according to a survey from CouponBirds.
Debt will play a significant role for many parents this Christmas, with 49% of parents reporting they are anticipating going into debt to pay for gifts.
Most of those will use credit cards to pay for Christmas gifts, while 21% plan to use buy now, pay later services, which have skyrocketed in use over the past few years.
This will just add to the growing credit card debit of Americans, with the average household credit card debt coming in at $9,706, 5% higher than last year.
While Colorado parents are spending more than the national average, they are spending less than parents in states like New Jersey ($712), Texas ($659), and Pennsylvania/Massachusetts ($648).
Parents in South Dakota ($247), West Virginia ($255), and Nebraska ($263) will have the lowest amount of spending.
How much you spend will also depend on what city you live in.
A study by WalletHub examined over 550 cities throughout the United States, with a number from Colorado making the list.
Highlands Ranch ranked number 14th in the nation for the most-expensive holiday budget, coming in at $3,259.
Broomfield also ranked in the top 100, with a budget of $2,432.
Of all the parents polled, 9% will spend more than $1,000 per child, while only 4% will spend less than $100.
Experts are also anticipating record overall spending on Christmas this year.
According to the National Retail Federation, consumers in the U.S. will spend an average of $902 on core holiday items including gifts, decorations, food and other holiday-related purchases this year. That is up $27 or 3.1% from last year’s holiday budgets.
It also found that, while the majority of Americans shopping online for the holiday season, 45% also anticipated shopping at discount stores, a notable shift in shopping habits.
