Maryland On 'Best Places For Christmas' List

BALTIMORE, MD — One city in Maryland made it onto a list of the top places in the U.S. for Christmas celebrations. Charm City was selected for its concentration of churches and shopping options, according to a new report by personal finance website WalletHub.

WalletHub compared the 100 largest U.S. cities based on 31 key indicators of a what it considered elements of a festive and affordable Christmas. The website considered shopping, costs and traditions in ranking cities.

Orlando ranked first in the nation as the best place for Christmas celebrations, followed by Las Vegas and New York.

Baltimore ranked 31st and was the only city in Maryland on the list.

Charm City came in 18th for its observance of the holiday and 19th for shopping.

To calculate the "observance" ranking, WalletHub considered the number of churches per capita and the percentage of the population that was Christian.

For shopping, WalletHub assessed how many Christmas markets, toy stores, shopping centers, candy stores, stationery shops and decorating stores were in a city.

Charm City was among those at the bottom of the rankings when it came to Christmas tree farms per capita, with just Nashville, Tennessee, El Paso, Texas, and Fort Worth, Texas having fewer, according to WalletHub. The cities with the most Christmas tree farms per capita in the U.S. were Miami; Portland, Oregon; Gilbert, Arizona; and New York, according to WalletHub.

These are the top 10 cities in the U.S. to celebrate Christmas, according to WalletHub:

1. Orlando, Florida
2. Las Vegas, Nevada
3. New York, New York
4. Atlanta, Georgia
5. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
6. San Francisco, California
7. Los Angeles, California
8. Chicago, Illinois
9. Seattle, Washington
10. Dallas, Texas

Click here to read the full report.

— By Patch editors Paul Scicchitano and Elizabeth Janney

Photo by Elizabeth Janney.