South Dakota Really Gets Excited For the Christmas Season

Now that we are officially into December, it's clear that South Dakota is into the Christmas season. Look around Sioux Falls or any other town in the state and you are bound to see Christmas lights, trees, inflatables, and decorations on homes and businesses. The other night I saw an old Silverado pickup driving around with Christmas lights strung around the bed. That's getting into the Christmas spirit!

Where does South Dakota rank when it comes to the states with the highest Christmas spirit? According to a new study from Finder.com, South Dakota ranks number four. Conversely, the state is the least "Scroogiest;" yes that is a word, at least for the purpose of this article. The study says South Dakota jumped 31 places from last year's report. South Dakota also had the highest search rank for "Christmas songs" according to Google Trends.

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But our neighbors to the North didn't rank too high on this study. In fact, North Dakota came in dead last in both Christmas spirit and Scroogiest.

I lived in Bismarck for several years and I am here to say that North Dakotans DO have the Christmas spirit. The windows in the 240-foot high state capitol building light up in Christmas tree design on all four sides. It looks like a 200+ foot tall Christmas tree! How's that for the Christmas spirit?

How did the other states in our region rank? Nebraska ranked just below South Dakota at number five, the same as last year. Minnesota slipped down seven to 31. Iowa was up two from last year and comes in as the top state in the country for Christmas spirit. Congrats to the Hawkeye State!

Click here to see the full report.