With two weeks left until Thanksgiving, a new report finds nearly all Americans - 97% - say they celebrate the holiday. Many of them will be traveling to share a meal with loved ones, as well as watching football and doing some Black Friday shopping and the research reveals how much we spend and how much we eat on Turkey Day.
Thanksgiving 2023 by the numbers:
- Almost two-thirds (63%) of Americans will travel for the Thanksgiving holiday.
- Just over a quarter (26%) plan to host the holiday and 11% of hosts say they already regret hosting.
- While the majority of people will have their holiday meal at someone’s home, 13% of Americans plan to get takeout or dine in a restaurant on Thanksgiving.
- Hosts will spend an average of $396 on Thanksgiving food, drinks and decor.
- The average host will also spend 9.6 hours preparing for the holiday.
- Questions answered by the Butterball Turkey Hotline every November and December - Over 100-thousand.
- The estimated amount spent on Thanksgiving turkeys every year is $949-million, with 40-million turkeys killed for the holiday.
- About two-thirds (68%) of Americans will have turkey on Thanksgiving, 50% will have mashed potatoes and stuffing/dressing and 41% will have gravy.
- The average number of calories consumed on Thanksgiving is between 3,150 to 4,500.
- Calories consumed by Americans every Thanksgiving from turkey alone - 7.2-billion.
- It would take the average American male 10 hours on a treadmill to burn off 4,500 calories.
- The most popular pies on Thanksgiving tables are pumpkin (23%), pecan (14%), apple (12%) and sweet potato (8%).
- As for leftovers, 53% of Americans say they eat them for two to three days after Thanksgiving.
- The top things Americans are thankful for this year are family (84%), health (69%), friends (63%), memories (63%) and personal freedom (53%).
- And 77% of people will be trying to avoid having to talk politics at the Thanksgiving dinner table.
Source: WalletHub