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New York already claims the title of one of the most expensive cities in the world (duh) but it's now also the very best to celebrate New Year's Eve in (also duh) across the United States—at least according to a new study by personal finance website WalletHub.
To come up with the list, the company compared 100 of the most populated cities in the United States across three categories: entertainment/food, costs and safety/accessibility. Looking at 28 metrics—from legality of fireworks to restaurants per capita, percentage of residents who are fully vaccinated and average price per New Year's Eve party ticket—WalletHub then generated the following ranking:
1. New York
2. Las Vegas
3. Orlando
4. Atlanta
5. Miami
6. Washington, DC
7. San Francisco
8. Denver
9. Louisville
10. Houston
Some more details that the survey shed light on include the fact that 60% of Americans actually plan to ring in 2022 with family or friends and only 24% of respondents will actually head to a public event or party to celebrate.
One more thing: over 360 million glasses of sparkling wine are drunk across the country each New Year's Eve (we suspect that folks in New York account for a lot of those).
Of course, this year, New Year's Eve in New York might look slightly different than what we're used to, given a recent surge in COVID-19 cases. The iconic ball drop celebration in Times Square might get cancelled, for example. That is why we suggest you head to the area to snap a picture next to the giant 2022 numeral that's there right now, also perhaps considering writing your most ardent hopes and desires for the new year on the wishing wall on premise. Your note will turn into confetti that will then be blasted off through the sky at midnight on New Year's Eve as the ball drops.
Back to the list. Full disclosure: upon looking into the data, it's clear that New York landed at the top spot because it ranked number one within the entertainment and food category (and that's saying a lot). In fact, it is dead last for cost (surprise, surprise).
But that's New York in a nutshell for you!