The holidays are an exciting time of year which people look forward to. Spending time with family, decorating their homes, and participating in festive traditions are all reasons to enjoy the season. Even though the Christmas craze spreads through the whole country, surely there are some cities that are a little more in love with Christmas than others.

What better way to discover which cities are most obsessed with Christmas than digging into Instagram, where holiday lovers share their pictures using festive hashtags? At Treetopia, we were interested to know where the most Santa lovin’ cities are. In order to identify which cities are the most obsessed with Christmas, we decided to analyze available Instagram data.

Using a specific date range of November 1, 2016 to January 1, 2017, we were able to look into which cities were posting pictures of their holiday fun on Instagram. We focused on six hashtags including: #merrychristmas, #santa, #santaclaus, #feliznavidad, #christmastree, and #xmas.

Looking at the most-used holiday hashtags and utilizing the geo-tagging feature of the social network allowed us to pinpoint the most Christmas obsessed cities throughout the U.S. Each hashtag use was counted, and the total number divided by the population of that city in 2016. This showed hashtag usage per person, so it’s important to remember that population counts in this analysis.

#MerryChristmas

Malibu, California tops the city charts for the usage of #merrychristmas. Resident Christmas-lovers in Malibu used the hashtag 1,900 times! Wilmington, Delaware residents also used this particular hashtag a lot, sharing their holiday photos with the hashtag 5,800 times.

#Santa

Malibu, California tops the charts again for usage of a holiday hashtag. However, Orlando and Miami, Florida are runners-up. Orlando had 2,500 uses of #Santa, while Miami Christmas-lovers used the hashtag 3,000 times. Remember, population of the cities makes a difference!

#SantaClaus

Florida cities sure do have a lot of Christmas Spirit. Orlando, Miami, and Fort Lauderdale are the top three Christmas obsessed cities who used the #santaclaus hashtag in their holiday Instagram posts.

#FelizNavidad

Miami used the #feliznavidad hashtag a total of 2,800 times during the 2016 holiday season! The only city who used this hashtag to surpass Miami was Los Angeles, California. L.A. geo-tagging shows the hashtag was used 3,400 times.

#ChristmasTree

Even though Malibu, California is the city most likely to use this hashtag, Santa Barbara, California used the #christmastree hashtag over 12,000 times in 2016! Malibu comes in first, however, due to a smaller population.

#xmas

#xmas is most likely to be found in Fort Lauderdale, Florida or Portsmouth, New Hampshire! Unsurprisingly, #xmas was used in L.A. about 13,000 times in 2016… but with such a massive population, it’s more likely Christmas-lovers will use this hashtag in another city like Miami, Orlando, or San Francisco.

Top 10 Santa Lovin’ States

The top 10 most Christmas obsessed cities based on Instagram data throughout the U.S. are showcased in the map below.

California and Florida obviously have the most Christmas-obsessed cities in the United States, but there are some Christmas-crazy cities in the Northeast too. Wilmington, Delaware and Portsmouth, New Hampshire show strong holiday spirit with the pictures they post and share on Instagram.

The holidays are a wonderful time of year where people like to share their holiday cheer. There are all kinds of tidings of joy we can offer while we get ready to celebrate the holiday season. However, sharing holiday cheer is easier than ever now, thanks to social channels where people can post pictures of their festive fun and holiday happenings.

One thing is for sure, in whatever state, the Christmas tree remains “the” symbol of the season. Decorate your Treetopia Christmas tree and share it on your social channels to spread the joy. Don’t forget to hashtag #Treetopia. Plus, if you need tree decorating ideas, we have tons to share with you!

#MerryChristmas and #FelizNavidad!