Census offers facts and figures about the 2020 holiday season

By Elizabeth Larson | Dec. 27, 2020
This festive season, or simply the holidays, is a time for celebrating, gift-giving, reflections and thanks.

To commemorate this time of year, the U.S. Census Bureau presents the following holiday-related facts and figures from its collection of statistics.

The following facts are made possible by the invaluable responses to the Census Bureau’s surveys.

“We appreciate the public’s cooperation as we continuously measure America’s people, places and economy,” the agency said.

Did you know?

$18.4 billion

The estimated retail sales for the nation’s department stores in December 2019, a decrease of 3.5 percent from December of the previous year.

Source: Monthly Retail Trade Survey

13.9 percent

The estimated percentage that December sales accounted for of total hobby, toy and game store sales in 2019.

Source: Monthly Retail Trade Survey

$85.2 billion

The estimated value of retail sales by electronic shopping and mail-order houses in December 2019, the highest estimated total for any month last year.

Source: Monthly Retail Trade Survey

$30.8 billion

The fourth quarter 2019 seasonally adjusted after-tax profits for retail trade corporations with assets of $50 million and over, up $5.7 (±0.6) billion from the third quarter of 2019.

Source: Quarterly Financial Report

$2.1 billion

The value of U.S. imports of Christmas ornaments from China for 2019. China led the way with 92.4 percent of the U.S. total imports of Christmas ornaments.

Sources: www.census.gov/trade and https://usatrade.census.gov

$484.9 million

The value of U.S. imports of Christmas tree lights for 2019. Cambodia led the way with 47.3 percent of the total U.S. imports of Christmas tree lights.

Source: International Trade Statistics, Harmonized System Code 9405.30 (Lighting sets of any kind used for Christmas Trees), www.census.gov/trade and https://usatrade.census.gov

532 establishments

The number of establishments nationwide that primarily produced dolls, toys and games in 2018, an increase of 23 establishments from 2017 (509 establishments); they employed 6,237 workers in the pay period including March 12, an increase of 117 employees from 2017 (6,120 employees). California led the nation with 93 establishments in 2018.

Source: County Business Patterns

$546.8 million

The value of U.S. imports of tapered candles in 2019. Most of these came from Vietnam, representing more than 46.8% of America’s imported tapered candles, followed by Canada with 16.7 percent.

Source: International Trade Statistics, Harmonized System Code 3406 (Candles, tapers, and the like), www.census.gov/trade and https://usatrade.census.gov

Holiday names

There are many holiday-sounding places in the United States. For example, more than a dozen places have Holly in their names, including Mount Holly, N.C. (population 16,257), and Holly Springs, Miss. (7,798).

There’s also Snowflake, Ariz. (5,995); Santa Claus, Ind. (2,411); North Pole, Alaska (2,094); Noel, Mo. (1,807); and — if you know about reindeer — Dasher, Ga. (1,015), and Rudolph, Wis. (416). There is also Unity, Ore. (70).

Source: Vintage 2019 Population Estimates