(The Center Square) – Arizona has three of the top 30-ranked cities in America to celebrate Thanksgiving: Scottsdale, Gilbert and Chandler, according to a new report.
WalletHub released a report earlier in November detailing the top American cities for Thanksgiving.
According to Chip Lupo, an analyst for WalletHub, the company evaluated cities across five criteria: Thanksgiving celebrations and traditions, affordability, safety and accessibility, giving thanks and Thanksgiving weather.
Lupo said across the five criteria, WalletHub applied 18 relevant metrics to determine the rankings.
In the WalletHub report, Scottsdale ranked fifth; Gilbert, 25th, and Chandler, 28th.
Scottsdale had “solid numbers across the board,” Lupo told The Center Square.
An area where the city stood out was in its giving thanks, which ranked first in America, Lupo noted. This category included information on volunteer opportunities, volunteer hours and charity organizations during Thanksgiving.
He added Scottsdale is tied with several other cities with the most “holiday decoration shops per capita.”
The city also ranks high in the number of “affordable restaurants” of four-and-a-half stars or more, Lupo stated. He added that eating out on Thanksgiving is becoming more common as more people shift from at-home meals to dining out.
This year, 4% of Americans plan to eat their Thanksgiving meal at a restaurant, according to a YouGov poll.
Lupo said the other Arizona cities, Gilbert and Chandler, had a “high number of pumpkin patches per capita.” He noted these two cities had “significantly more” pumpkin patches than Scottsdale.
Lupo also pointed out that these two cities have many “affordable four-and-a-half and five-star restaurants.”
Of the three Arizona cities in the top 30, Gilbert had the lowest crime rate, Lupo said. He added that all three cities have low crime rates.
Another factor in these cities’ rankings was the nice weather they enjoy during the Thanksgiving holiday.
Areas where Scottsdale got dinged in the rankings were in the costs of its Thanksgiving dinners, which ranked 54th in this category, the “high number of DUI-related fatalities in motor vehicle crashes around Thanksgiving” and travel-related issues.
These reasons kept Scottsdale out of the top three cities for Thanksgiving, Lupo stated.
The top three cities in WalletHub’s rankings were San Antonio, Texas; Atlanta, Georgia; and Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Besides Scottsdale, Gilbert and Chandler, other cities from Arizona made the top 100 list: Phoenix, Tucson, Mesa and Glendale.
Phoenix just missed the top 30, ranking 33rd. Tucson ranked 44th; Mesa, 58th, and Glendale, 64th.
