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Maybe it’s all the fantastic restaurants that are open. Or the fact that you can find so many free and cheap meals for the holiday. Or that this is home to seven of the country’s coziest cities — North Texas is officially the best pocket of the country to spend Thanksgiving in, according to a new study.
WalletHub, a personal finance company, says three cities in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area are the most ideal places to cut the turkey this year.
The high rankings aren’t exactly surprising on the heels of the Federal Aviation Administration’s indication that 2025 is expected to be the busiest time for Thanksgiving travel in 15 years. The behemoth that is DFW Airport is expected to see some of the highest flight traffic in the nation this year.
WalletHub says the metrics for this year’s ranking include factors like affordability, celebrations and traditions, safety and accessibility, giving thanks and weather forecast.
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You’d think that last one would flank our scores given that it’s not uncommon for it to feel like Summer: The Sequel on Thanksgiving here. Still, Dallas and two of its suburbs made the top 10.
“The best cities for celebrating Thanksgiving all have an abundance of high-quality restaurants and places to buy festive decorations,” WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo said in a statement. “And their residents get very excited for the holiday based on their Google search history.
WalletHub
Though Dallas is among the top five, largely due to its high marks for the holiday’s “celebrations and traditions” category (at least we have one semblance of consistency to thank the Dallas Cowboys for), it scored a rank of 28 for affordability and landed at a dismaying No. 96 for safety.
Irving follows close behind in sixth place — this one doesn’t exactly seem like it would have amassed a national reputation for being a holiday hotspot, but there are so many damn-good eats over there, and this is a holiday literally founded on food, after all. Sanjh on N. O’Connor Blvd is open for an Indian-fusion buffet brunch on Thursday, by the way.
Plano, which was also just named one of the best places to live in Texas, ranks at No. 7 overall. It scored quite high for the affordability, safety and giving thanks categories.
Elsewhere, Garland landed just outside the top 20 while Arlington landed at No. 41. Surprisingly, Fort Worth barely made the top 50, perhaps in large part due to having one of the lowest numbers of pumpkin patches per capita.
We’ll check the till to see just how great a place this is to be post-Cowboys game tomorrow, though.
