For Thanksgiving 2025, over 73 million travelers in the U.S. are expected to get to their destinations by car. A further six million will travel by air for the holiday.

The number of Thanksgiving holiday travelers in the United States amounted to approximately 80.2 million in 2024. In 2025, the number of Thanksgiving holiday travelers in the U.S. was forecast to reach 81.8 million.

As of October 2021, the share of adults in the United States that planned to spend *** U.S. dollars or less on Thanksgiving travel was ***** percent. Meanwhile, a much smaller share of **** percent planned to spend over ************ U.S. dollars. Comparatively, ***** percent of respondents stated that they would spend nothing on Thanksgiving travel in 2021.

According to a 2025 survey, close to ** percent of U.S. consumers intend to stay home for Thanksgiving, while only ** percent plan to take an extended trip of more than five days.

In 2024, U.S. Midwesterners intended to travel the shortest distances for Thanksgiving. The Midwest had the lowest share of respondents from all regions that planned to travel over *** miles for the celebration. With a fifth of all respondents travelling over *** miles, the West had the largest share of respondents planning to go this far for Thanksgiving.

This statistic shows the share of Thanksgiving holiday travelers in the United States in 2020, by mode of transport. It is forecasted that 4.7 percent of travelers will travel by air during the Thanksgiving holiday period.

The City of Chicago has published trip-level data for every TNC trip since November 1, 2018. To the best of our knowledge, this dataset is the only one that includes trip fare variables. As we wrote this paper in Oct 2022, the dataset includes approximately 263 million trip records (rows) and 21 features (columns) for trips dated from November 1, 2018, through October 1, 2022. The features of this data include Trip ID, Trip Start Timestamp (rounded to the nearest 15 minutes), Trip End Timestamp (rounded to the nearest 15 minutes), Trip Seconds, Trip Miles, Pickup Census Tract, Dropoff Census Tract, Pickup Community Area, Drop Off Community Area, Trip Fare, Tip, Additional Charges, Total Trip Fare, Shared Trip Authorized, Trips Pooled, Pickup Centroid Latitude, Pickup Centroid Longitude, Pickup Centroid Location, Dropoff Centroid Latitude, Dropoff Centroid Longitude, Dropoff Centroid Location. As the dataset is too large to be processed without a supercomputer, we generated a random sample of 2 million trips from Nov 2018 to June 2022 with valid pickup and drop-down area information. To explore the data, we processed the features to extract date information from the timestamp. We created new variables, including each trip's average fare per mile (excluding tips and additional charges, mainly taxes). In dataset (1), the sampled TNC trips data was processed and summarized to include the average daily fare per mile (USD/mile), and exogenous variables that impact the price were added to the data including holidays (Christmas, thanksgiving, Independence Day, easter and new year) and other variables including gas prices, and climate (snow, precipitation, and average daily temperature). The City of Chicago also publishes taxi trips from 2013 to the present. To protect privacy but allow for aggregate analyses, the Taxi ID is consistent for any given taxi medallion number but does not show the number, and times are rounded to the nearest 15 minutes. Due to the data reporting process, not all but most trips are reported. Taxicabs in Chicago, Illinois, are operated by private companies and licensed by the city. About seven thousand licensed cabs are operating within the city limits. As the dataset is too large to be processed without a supercomputer, we generated a random sample of 2 million trips from Nov 2018 to June 2022 with valid pickup and drop-down area information. To explore the data, we processed the features to extract date information from the timestamp. We created new variables, including each trip's average fare per mile (excluding tips and additional charges, mainly taxes). In dataset (2), the taxi trips data was processed and summarized to include the average daily fare per mile (USD/mile), and exogenous variables that impact the price were added to the data including holidays (Christmas, thanksgiving, Independence Day, easter and new year) and other variables including gas prices, and climate (snow, precipitation, and average daily temperature).

In 2023, over 70 million Thanksgiving holiday travelers in the United States reached their destination by driving. Meanwhile, only 5.37 million travelers made it to their destination by flying. Both of these figures were forecast to increase over the following year.

Travel became increasingly difficult across the world in 2020 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. As a result, some adults in the United States opted out of traveling for Thanksgiving. During a November 2020 survey, just over six in 10 respondents aged 45 to 54 years old believed that traveling during this time was not worth the risk. Comparatively, 27 percent of respondents aged 25 to 34 years believed that, despite the risk, it was worth traveling to spend time with family.

2025 saw the average price for a Thanksgiving dinner decline to 55.18 U.S. dollars. In 2022, the average price for a complete Thanksgiving feast in the United States (U.S.) amounted to 64.05 U.S. dollars. The survey dinner includes turkey, bread stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls with butter, peas, cranberries, a relish tray of carrots and celery, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, and beverages of coffee and milk, all in quantities sufficient to serve a family of ten. Despite the recent decrease, there has been a general increase in the average cost for a Thanksgiving family dinner for over 3 decades. The most rapid increase happened between 2019 and 2022 when the average price grew by almost 40 percent. Turkey prices during Thanksgiving in the U.S. The price of a whole 16-pound turkey in the U.S. was 30.15 U.S. dollars in 2024. This is the highest retail price for a whole turkey since 2018. The price of a whole turkey has increased by close to 9 U.S. dollars in comparison to 2021, which is a price increase of over 40.8 percent. Moreover, the average cost of a whole turkey varies among the different U.S. states. In California, for example, a whole 15-pound turkey costs on average 39.85 U.S. dollars, which is the most expensive among all selected states. The turkey is by far the most expensive ingredient for a ten-person Thanksgiving dinner. Several other typically purchased dinner ingredients, such as pumpkin pie mix, sweet potatoes, cubed stuffing mix, dinner rolls, and whole milk cost significantly less, on average. Traveling during Thanksgiving in the U.S. Close to one-third of Americans prefer to celebrate Thanksgiving at their relatives. Therefore, many Americans travel during Thanksgiving. The number of Thanksgiving holiday travelers in the United States is around 79.86 million. Since 2019, the amount of Thanksgiving travelers has fluctuated but increased by approximately 2 million. Cars are the preferred mode of transportation during Thanksgiving. Over 92 percent of the people who travel during Thanksgiving do so by car, while about 7.5 percent travel by airplane.

2024 saw the average price for a Thanksgiving dinner decline to ***** U.S. dollars. In 2022, the average price for a complete Thanksgiving feast in the United States (U.S.) amounted to ***** U.S. dollars. The survey dinner includes turkey, bread stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls with butter, peas, cranberries, a relish tray of carrots and celery, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, and beverages of coffee and milk, all in quantities sufficient to serve a family of ten. Despite the recent decrease, there has been a general increase in the average cost for a Thanksgiving family dinner for over * decades. The most rapid increase happened between 2019 and 2022 when the average price grew by almost ** percent. Turkey prices during Thanksgiving in the U.S. The price of a whole 16-pound turkey in the U.S. was ***** U.S. dollars in 2024. This is the highest retail price for a whole turkey since 2018. The price of a whole turkey has increased by close to * U.S. dollars in comparison to 2021, which is a price increase of over **** percent. Moreover, the average cost of a whole turkey varies among the different U.S. states. In California, for example, a whole 15-pound turkey costs on average ***** U.S. dollars, which is the most expensive among all selected states. The turkey is by far the most expensive ingredient for a ten-person Thanksgiving dinner. Several other typically purchased dinner ingredients, such as pumpkin pie mix, sweet potatoes, cubed stuffing mix, dinner rolls, and whole milk cost on average between **** and **** U.S. dollars. Traveling during Thanksgiving in the U.S. The national holiday of Thanksgiving is traditionally celebrated on November 26 in the United States. Close to one-third of Americans prefer to celebrate Thanksgiving at their relatives. Therefore, many Americans travel during Thanksgiving. The number of Thanksgiving holiday travelers in the United States is around ***** million. Since 2019, the amount of Thanksgiving travelers has fluctuated but increased by approximately * million. Cars are the preferred mode of transportation during Thanksgiving. Over ** percent of the people who travel during Thanksgiving do so by car, while about *** percent travel by airplane.

In 2023, holiday shopping season will start a little later for many consumers in the United States. According to the findings of a recent survey, half of U.S. consumers were intending to start their holiday shopping in October in 2023. This share was at 56 percent the previous year.

Holiday season in the United States The holiday season is just around the corner and it’s truly the best time of the year for both consumers and retailers of all shapes and sizes. Since the recession in 2008, Christmas holiday retail sales in the United States have grown steadily. The amount of money that U.S. consumers plan to spend on gifts has, however, fluctuated. A 2022 survey revealed that U.S. consumers expected to spend, on average, 867 U.S. dollars in 2022; an increase from 794 dollars in 2018.

Black Friday For millions of people, Black Friday is the time to do some serious Christmas shopping — even before the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers are gone. It is the Friday after Thanksgiving, and it's one of the major shopping days of the year in the United States, falling anywhere between November 23 and 29. While it's not recognized as an official US holiday, many employees have the day off — except those working in retail. Ever since the start of the modern Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1924, the Friday after Thanksgiving has been known as the unofficial start to a bustling holiday shopping season.