A new study by MRI Software, a real estate software and services provider that tracks and forecasts footfall across retail destinations, has revealed the top Christmas hotspots in America for holiday activities.
The retail experts have created their Christmas Hotspots Index, ranking U.S. cities based on the city’s number of Christmas-related activities per square mile.
The research crowned Jersey City as the top Christmas hotspot for 2025. Wilmington placed in second, followed by Newark in third. Dover and Frederick make up the rest of the top five.
Jersey City named the top Christmas hotspot in the U.S.
Jersey City sits at the top of MRI’s Christmas hotspots index, with the highest rate of Christmas-related activities per square mile at 69.4. Residents of Jersey City have a choice of 1,460 events to choose from during the holiday season.
In second place is Wilmington in Delaware. In Wilmington, there are 65.2 events per square mile – 1,120 in total.
New Jersey is one of three states with two cities in the top 10. As well as Jersey City in first place, Newark, New Jersey also ranks in third place. Newark has 1,500 events in total – 58 per square mile.
The second state with two cities in the top five is Delaware – Wilmington in second place and Dover in fourth. Residents of Dover have 1,160 holiday events to choose from – 48.4 per square mile.
Completing the top five is Frederick. The city in Maryland has the fifth highest rate of Christmas activities per square mile -48.4 and 1,100 in total.
New Hampshire also has multiple cities making the top 10 of MRI’s Christmas hotspots index. Nashua ranks sixth with 27.7 events per square mile, and Manchester is in eighth place with 24 per square mile.
Rounding off the rest of the top 10 are Worcester, Massachusetts, in seventh with 26.5 events per square mile, Warwick, Rhode Island, in ninth with 18.9 per square mile, and finally Buffalo, New York at 14.1 per square mile.
Cedrick Johnson, Brand and Communications Leader at MRI Software, commented on the findings of the study:
“Our Christmas Hotspots Index provides some great insight into how different cities are preparing for one of the peak trading periods in the retail calendar. New Jersey and New Hampshire in particular are states that we expect to be popular tourist attractions with high footfall due to having multiple cities in our top 10 Christmas hotspots.”
