By Katie Kelton, Bankrate.com

The winter holidays are a time for dusting off decorations and observing traditions — but they’re also rife with money decisions.

Americans are choosing how much to spend on travel, gifts and decorations in today’s economy, along with how they’ll make those purchases. Some holiday shoppers and travelers plan to use credit cards, but debit cards; buy now, pay later services (BNPL); and rewards points are other popular payment options.

Bankrate’s key findings on holiday spending

Fewer Americans will travel for holidays this year, compared with last year: 21% plan to fly or stay in a hotel or short-term rental for Thanksgiving or the December holidays, compared to 27% in 2024.Source: Bankrate’s 2025 Holiday Travel Survey

Around 2 in 5 holiday shoppers expect higher price tags this year: 41% say they’re concerned winter holiday gifts will be more expensive this year. But only 24% will budget for holiday spending.Source: Bankrate’s 2025 Early Holiday Shopping Survey

Roughly half of holiday shoppers will begin before the end of October: That includes 13% who started shopping or planned to in August, 11% in September and 25% in October.Source: Bankrate’s 2025 Early Holiday Shopping Survey

Home for the holidays? Fewer Americans plan to travel this holiday season

If you’re opting out of a flight to visit Grandma and Grandpa or a trip to Disney for the holidays in 2025, you’re not alone. Fewer Americans plan to travel for Thanksgiving or the winter holidays this year versus last year, according to Bankrate’s 2025 Holiday Travel Survey.

Around 1 in 5 U.S. adults (21 percent) say they plan to stay in a hotel or short-term rental or travel by airplane for the upcoming holidays. That’s compared to 27 percent in 2024.

Younger generations, men and parents of young kids are most likely to plan for less holiday travel this year

Interestingly, the people who are overall most likely to travel for the holidays are also the ones responsible for the biggest declines in travel this year.For example, Gen Zers (ages 18-28) and millennials (ages 29-44) are overall the most likely to travel at 30 percent and 29 percent, respectively, compared to 16 percent of Gen Xers (ages 45-60) and 12 percent of boomers (ages 61-79).But the percentage of traveling Gen Zers dropped the most from last year, by 14 percentage points, followed by traveling millennials, who dropped by 9 points. Gen Xers dropped by 5 points, and boomers are traveling at basically the same rate this year as last, with a 2-point difference.

And while 21 percent of both men and women say they plan to travel this holiday season, that’s down 10 percentage points from 2024 for men and down 2 points for women.

Let’s look at parents — 33 percent of parents with children under the age of 18 plan to travel this holiday season, down 13 points from 2024. In comparison, 21 percent of all parents plan to travel this season, down 7 points from last year.Lastly, higher earners are more likely to travel for the holiday season. Twenty-nine percent of those earning $100,000 and above say they plan to travel, compared to 23 percent of those in both the $80,000 to $99,999 and $50,000 to $79,999 income brackets and 16 percent of those earning below $50,000. Still, all of those income brackets are traveling less than or about the same as they did last year, with drops of 9 percentage points, 2 points, 8 points and 8 points, respectively.

“While many Americans appear to be scaling back their travel plans this year, we’ll have to see if that actually happens,” says Rossman. “Consumer sentiment has been depressed for a while now, thanks mostly to worries about inflation and tariffs, yet people are still spending. The disconnect between what people say and what they do has been growing.”

Holiday travelers prefer credit cards

Among all the ways to pay, credit cards are the most popular method for holiday travel (63 percent) — either paid in full (40 percent) or with a balance paid over time (23 percent).

Debit cards and/or cash is the second most popular option (44 percent), followed by rewards points (32 percent), asking friends/family to pay (13 percent) and BNPL services (10 percent).

Both credit cards and rewards travel are more popular this year. The number of adults who say they’ll use each method of payment are up 4 percentage points and 8 percentage points, respectively, from 2024.

“Don’t forget about your rewards points and miles,” Rossman advises. “Many people have accumulated more than they realize.”

Nearly 1 in 3 holiday travelers plan to take on debt

Adjusting for overlap between those who plan to carry a credit card balance and those who will use BNPL, nearly 1 in 3 travelers (31 percent) are likely to take on debt.Millennial holiday travelers are most likely to accrue debt, at 39 percent. That’s compared to 30 percent of Gen X, 25 percent of Gen Z and 21 percent of boomer travelers.And debt usage for holiday travel peaks among middle-income earners of $50,000 to $99,999 (39 percent). The lowest income bracket, those making less than $50,000, is next (34 percent), followed by 23 percent of $100,000+ earners.Learn how to travel smart and stay out of debt.

Around 2 in 5 holiday shoppers, especially boomers, fear high price tags this holiday season

Loren Jerae, a 26-year-old stay-at-home mom in Charlotte, North Carolina, has already begun Christmas shopping. She’ll frequent thrift stores, online marketplaces and clearance racks for the next few months until she’s curated the perfect pile of presents for her 5-year-old son.

As a young mom, “I didn’t want our finances to determine his holiday,” she says. “Ever since he was born, I have always been budget-friendly.”

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When it comes to holiday shopping, Jerae is in good company.

Most Americans (79 percent) plan to holiday shop this year. And about half of holiday shoppers (49 percent) have already begun or plan to begin shopping before Oct. 31, according to Bankrate’s 2025 Early Holiday Shopping Survey. Jerae starts even sooner.

She says she sets money aside during the first half of the year. Come July, she takes advantage of summer clearance sales and back-to-school deals to snag some early Christmas gifts. By August, she’s tackling her entire shopping list for her son, fiancé, parents and other friends and family.

Two in 5 shoppers (41 percent) are concerned that holiday gifts will be more expensive this year, which may be why they’re getting a head start. “I absolutely feel like [prices are] higher,” Jerae comments.

A few years ago, she and her fiancé tried shopping the month before Christmas and ended up spending around $700 on “a bunch of junk.” She told herself she’d never do that again.

“I am not spending that type of money on one or two items,” she says. By shopping early, “I can make $100 stretch, and we can get several things.”

Boomers and middle-income earners are most concerned about higher holiday prices

Notably, that concern over high prices is highest among boomers (46 percent, ages 61-79) and decreases with age. Forty percent of Gen Xers (ages 45-60), 39 percent of millennials (ages 29-44) and 37 percent of Gen Zers (ages 18-28) noted the same concern.Concern about high holiday prices this year is also more prominent among middle-income households. Forty-nine percent of $80,000-$99,999 earners and 45 percent of $50,000-$79,999 earners say they’re concerned, versus 38 percent of both the highest and lowest earners ($100,000+ and under $50,000, respectively).Rossman says the higher earners are easier to explain, as more disposable income allows for some wiggle room in the budget. But lower earners may have already tightened their holiday budgets after high inflation and interest rates in the last few years. It could still be a tough financial season — but they’ve adapted.On the other hand, Rossman explains, middle earners may be newly disenchanted by higher prices and feel like their paychecks aren’t stretching as far as they used to.

Concern about high prices may be warranted

Money woes are top of mind for some holiday shoppers

More than 1 in 3 shoppers say inflation will change how they shop (36 percent), and more than 1 in 4 say holiday shopping will strain their budgets (29 percent) and are stressed about winter holiday shopping costs (27 percent).In fact, only 11 percent explicitly said they’re not concerned about the cost of winter holiday shopping.

More holiday shoppers will make their purchases online

Nearly 2 in 5 shoppers (38 percent) intend to make most of their purchases online, versus 1 in 5 (20 percent) who plan to make most of their purchases in person. Perhaps surprisingly, boomers are the most likely to make most of their purchases online (45 percent), compared to just 33 percent of Gen Zers.Jerae, a Gen Zer, tends to shop more in person. “I’d rather just hit all the thrift stores in my area,” she explains.And roughly 1 in 6 shoppers (16 percent) expect that gifts will be harder to find this year.

Around 1 in 4 shoppers expect to spend more this holiday season

Twenty-seven percent of holiday shoppers expect to spend more this holiday season than they did last year, compared to 30 percent who expect to spend less. Forty-three percent expect to spend about the same.

There could be a couple of factors at play.

First, those who plan to spend more may anticipate higher prices this year, Rossman explains. Or, they could simply be earning more income and feeling generous.

Meanwhile, Rossman says those who plan to spend less might be more optimistic about prices this year. Or, they might be shortening their gift lists to save money.

More than 1 in 4 shoppers plan to take on debt this season, but debit cards are the top pick for payment

Sixty-one percent of holiday shoppers expect to use debit cards for at least some of their purchases, avoiding debt but likely sacrificing rewards potential.

Credit cards are the next most popular option, with 57 percent of shoppers planning to use them. Among those users, 35 percent plan to pay in full and 21 percent plan to carry balances over time.

Cash remains a popular option, with 49 percent planning to pay with cash. Buy now, pay later (BNPL) services (12 percent), checks (5 percent) and some other method (3 percent) round out the ways people plan to pay for their winter holiday shopping.

Gen Zers are the most likely to use debit cards (70 percent) and cash (55 percent). Boomers are the most likely to pay with credit cards (62 percent), and millennials are the most likely to use a BNPL service (17 percent).

After adjusting for overlap, more than 1 in 4 shoppers (28 percent) may take on debt either with a credit card they will pay off over time or BNPL. But just 4 percent say they are “willing to take on debt” in another survey question — revealing a possible disconnect between what Americans say and what they do.

Nearly half of shoppers will start before Halloween

You’re not behind on holiday shopping yet, but nearly half of shoppers (49 percent) will have started or plan to start before the end of October.

That includes 13 percent who started or planned to start by the end of August, another 11 percent in September and another 25 percent in October, leaving 37 percent who plan to start shopping in November and 14 percent in December.

Rossman thinks the early bird might get the worm.

“While some consumers shake their heads that holiday shopping seems to start earlier each year, the early start gives you more time to spread out your cash flow and find the best deals,” he explains.

5 ways to save money this holiday season

You don’t have to go into debt to pay for the holidays. Instead, try these tips to be a smart shopper this season.

Set aside money ahead of time. Half of Americans are in credit card debt, and the holidays make it easy to spend more money than you have. Instead, try building a holiday fund before you start shopping or booking travel. From January to July, Jerae puts between $30 and $50 weekly into a high-yield savings account that she’ll later use for Christmas gifts. Only around 1 in 4 holiday shoppers (24 percent) expect to budget for the holidays, but you can be one of them. Learn how to create a sinking fund to avoid going into debt.

Start shopping early. The thought of buying gifts in July may sound like holiday creep, but it can actually lead to better deals and help you dodge the December mall frenzy. Take advantage of sales throughout the fall and compare prices without feeling rushed. You could have every item on your list checked off weeks before the holidays, leaving you more time to nosh on cookies and celebrate with your family.

Stay flexible with your travel schedule. “You can save on travel costs by going a few days before the holiday and/or coming back a few days later,” Rossman explains. “Or even traveling on the holiday itself. You could also consider nearby airports, connecting flights, less popular flight times and staying with family instead of booking a hotel room.”

Try secondhand shopping. Jerae found a play kitchen for $40 resale, well below the brand-new $100+ price tag. She says kids don’t know or care if a gift is secondhand — and she can find better prices for items with higher quality and more character. Learn how to thrift to help your budget.

Use a rewards credit card. You could earn cash back or points on your holiday purchases, flights or hotel stays with one of the best rewards cards. And those rewards could go toward future gifts or a family vacation. Learn how to choose a rewards card.

You can also combine money-saving methods. “Starting early and stacking discounts are strategies that shoppers can deploy to save money,” Rossman advises.

The bottom line

Many Americans are holiday shopping early this year, and possibly with good reason — they’re worried about rising prices and want more time to find the best deals. Just don’t fall prey to impulse shopping during those extra months.

By sticking to a list and a budget, it really could be the most wonderful time of the year.

MethodologyBankrate commissioned YouGov Plc to conduct the surveys. All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc.2025 Holiday Travel Survey: Total sample size was 2,529 adults, of which 498 plan to travel this holiday season Fieldwork was undertaken between Sept. 2-4, 2025. The survey was carried out online. It gathered a non-probability-based sample and employed demographic quotas and weights to better align the survey sample with the broader U.S. population.2025 Early Holiday Shopping Survey: Total sample size was 2,567 adults, including 2,020 who expect to participate in winter holiday shopping. Fieldwork was undertaken between July 28-30, 2025. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all U.S. adults (aged 18+).

©2025 Bankrate.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

What to know when the Vikings travel to play the Detroit Lions on Sunday afternoon:

Vikings at Lions
When: 12 p.m. Sunday
Where: Ford Field
TV: FOX
Radio: KFAN
Line: Lions -9.5
Over/Under: 48.5

Keys for the Vikings

— Success for the Vikings hinges on getting quarterback J.J. McCarthy confident. He’s making his return after missing the past month and a half with a high ankle sprain. Can Kevin O’Connell get McCarthy easy completions? That has to potential to unlock everything else the Vikings want to do on offense. It’s also important that the Vikings establish the run so McCarthy doesn’t feel as though he has to win the game with his right arm alone. That would be a recipe for disaster.

Keys for the Lions

— The Lions simply have to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. If they can get running backs Jahmyr Gibbs and/or David Montgomery going, they should be able to do whatever they want on offense. On the flip side, if they can stop the run with regularity, that will help them pressure the passer on defense. The only way the Lions are locked in a close game with the Vikings is if they turn the ball over. They must avoid doing that.

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Pioneer Press staffers who cover the Vikings take a stab at predicting Sunday’s outcome against the Lions in Detroit:

DANE MIZUTANI

Lions 31, Vikings 17: This doesn’t seem like a fair fight. There’s an argument to be made that the Lions are the best team in the NFC. It’s hard to imagine how the Vikings even keep it close.

JACE FREDERICK

Lions 41, Vikings 20: Minnesota’s upcoming schedule: Week 9: at Detroit. Week 10: Baltimore. Week 11: May as well be Cancun.

JOHN SHIPLEY

Lions 38, Vikings 10: The Lions smoked a much-better team in Detroit last January. The difference this time is that everyone expects it.

CHARLEY WALTERS

Lions 31, Vikings 10: It’s hard to imagine a tougher start for J.J. McCarthy’s 10-game Vikings QB audition.

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The rail switch yard dated back to the 1880s and hosted some 50 jobs on a 25-acre plot of land — little more than two workers per acre, all told, occupying a handful of underutilized industrial buildings. Where others saw blight, officials with the St. Paul Port Authority saw opportunity.

They worked with private partners a generation ago to launch the Westminster Junction Business Center, cleaning the area to developable standards, selling the land to developers and employers and filling in the space east of Interstate 35E along Phalen Boulevard and Cayuga Street with what is now 15 companies and 913 jobs.

The site, which previously generated $138,000 in annual property taxes, is now responsible for $2.6 million in property tax revenues, paid by users like a multi-story HealthPartners Specialty Center, a Gillette Children’s Hospital clinic, Evolution Pet Food and the administrative offices of Blaze Credit Union.

Port Authority officials see the Westminster Junction Business Center as a resounding success story — even though it’s taken more than 20 years to get the acreage fully on the tax rolls.

On Monday, the board of the Port Authority voted to decertify the 26-year “tax increment financing redevelopment district” supporting the business center five years earlier than initially scheduled. With the district performing better than expected, the early pay-off has been cause for celebration in the eyes of Port Authority President Todd Hurley, even as critics continue to sound an alarm over the city’s heavy reliance on “TIF” as a real estate development incentive.

St. Paul Port Authority President Todd Hurley. (Courtesy of the City of St. Paul)

“Returning this kind of tax base to the city, it actually reduces the property tax levy,” said Hurley, in a recent interview. “This is the tool that allowed the St. Paul Port Authority to do the land acquisition and remediation.”

Tax increment financing: how it works

Tax increment financing — or TIF — remains a hotly debated form of tax incentive used by municipalities to lure private developers. TIF districts and terms can take various forms, but the most common format in St. Paul gives developers 26 years to pay back TIF dollars using funds that would otherwise be directed toward their property taxes.

The funding, which can be upfront through bond proceeds or incremental and structured as a pay-as-you-go financial note, is put toward land acquisition, soil remediation, basic utility infrastructure like water mains, sewer and roads, and other environmental and public-facing improvements. The goal is to improve upon blighted land and ultimately generate more tax revenue in areas the private sector would otherwise largely avoid.

The rail yard “was contaminated, and (virtually) no jobs on site,” Hurley said. “Would this development have happened but for the creation of a TIF district?”

Critics of TIF funding have called it a pricey give-away to private developers, noting that it keeps new real estate largely off the tax rolls for 25 years after the first tax increment is received, and they’ve raised concern that developers are too quick to ask for TIF dollars and St. Paul is too quick to indulge them.

A recent analysis by fiscal watchdogs Insight St. Paul found that the capital city captures some $36 million in TIF dollars annually — the largest capture of any city in Minnesota — generated by $2.6 billion in real estate. That’s equivalent to setting aside 7.9% of the city’s taxable property and effectively allowing it to pay for itself with its own property taxes, rather than sharing those revenues with the city, county and school district. The city aims to keep that number below 10%.

Some suburbs have also increased their use of TIF, while Minneapolis uses it less and less. During the life of a TIF district, large properties within the district generate police and fire calls and draw wear and tear on roads and other public services, just like any other businesses citywide, but they contribute relatively little to cover the cost of those services.

Within a TIF district, “property owners don’t pay for the government services they receive until all the outstanding debt issues are paid off,” reads the Insight Report. “To cover the cost of government services inside a TIF district, the rest of the tax base then must pay more taxes.”

John Mannillo, a member of the Insight group, said he is happy the Port Authority’s TIF districts performing well and getting paid off in a timely fashion, but that hasn’t always been the case with districts created by the city’s Housing and Redevelopment Authority.

“That’s good news, no question about it,” Mannillo said. “The Port Authority is probably a better place (to handle this), if we’re going to use TIF. The HRA has about 10 districts that have paid off their debts, but haven’t been decertified. They’re using the extra money to put them in a TIF pool and pay off the debts for the districts that aren’t performing.”

Mannillo said he worries that TIF districts are essentially stealing commercial tenants from taxpaying areas.

“There’s a new request for a TIF district along Grand Avenue,” Mannillo added. “That’s the best location in the city. If we have to TIF that, how will we ever attract development?”

Jobs now, taxes later

The Insight Report raises other questions, such as whether TIF districts compete with other non-subsidized developable areas in the city and make it harder to attract private investment elsewhere. Not every TIF district has been able to pay back its financial obligations after a real estate venture fails or underperforms, and some districts have been extended for years past their scheduled expiration date.

Hurley noted that several other TIF districts, like Westminster Junction, a former Koch Mobil site in the Victoria Park area off West Seventh Street and in the Shepard-Davern area of Highland Park, have paid off their obligations early. Other benefits to the surrounding area arrive even faster. “It takes 20 years to see the paybacks around the property taxes, but it doesn’t take 20 years to see the jobs come to the site,” he said.

The Port Authority has developed some two dozen business centers across the city, with many of them relying on TIF dollars to get started. Next door to Westminster Junction, the 27-acre Williams Hill business center was a former dump site before a TIF district helped remediate the land and draw eight companies and more than 450 jobs, including a multi-story HealthPartners neuroscience center.

“This was complete blight,” Hurley said. “It was an eyesore.”

Williams Hill now generates some $2.4 million in property taxes annually. Combined with Westminster Junction, the two business centers host nearly 1,500 jobs between them.

Kmart site

Rather than avoid the use of TIF, Hurley said the Port Authority is optimistic the same tool can be used to draw private sector investment for the redevelopment of the long-shuttered Kmart department store on St. Paul’s East Side.

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“We are really hopeful that we can carry this model over to the Kmart site,” Hurley said. “We are really optimistic.”

The city maintains 58 TIF districts, with about $31 million attributable to districts established by the city’s Housing and Redevelopment Authority and $5.6 million attributable to the Port Authority.

On Grand Avenue, a developer has requested $3.5 million in TIF funding for new housing and retail to replace the Victoria Crossing East Mall and the former site of the Billy’s on Grand restaurant. Elsewhere, TIF is designed to support affordable housing at Highland Bridge and downtown Mary Hall, the Farwell Yards development at Plato Boulevard and Water Street, and the recent conversion of downtown Landmark Tower on St. Peter Street from offices to market-rate apartments.