Western New Yorkers are ready to shake their shamrocks in what is now the 4th best city to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, according to a recent study by a personal finance website.
Wallethub ranked 200 cities, factoring in several categories. WBFO spoke with WalletHub analyst JillGonzalez about the metrics that were used.
“Affordability was one thing that we did look at -- costs over all. Also St. Patrick’s Day traditions in terms of how long it’s been going on for, how many Irish-American people there are in a given city," she said. "We also looked at safety and accessibility on St. Patrick’s Day.”
Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia topped the list of best cities for St. Patrick's Day celebrations. Buffalo was high on the list in part due to the region's strong Irish-American heritage.
“Buffalo is in the top five for a number of different reasons, first of all there’s a lot of St. Patrick’s Day traditions there. A lot of Irish Americans have been celebrating St. Patrick’s Day for years -- decades.”
Gonzalez added that Buffalo is not only a great city to celebrate green, but also to save some green in the process.
“It’s a little bit more affordable than many other cities. You go to Boston, you can expect to spend a pretty penny on St. Patrick’s Day, just in terms of spending money on alcohol, spending money getting into bars, on cover, on party tickets. That is not necessarily the case in Buffalo,”
Data for the study was gathered from the census, the Highway Traffic and Safety Administration, and other government sources. Research shows sixty percent of American’s plan to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, amounting to a $6 billion economic impact.