Florida’s Favorite Christmas Song Has A Southwest Florida Connection

Just a few years ago, you'd need to do countless polls and go through endless research to find out where people's interest lie. Now it's easy. Google gives us all the data. Google Trends tells us what people are searching for, and where they are searching from. Making it very easy to find everyone's favorite Christmas song this year. Here in Florida, our favorite Christmas song is a little more special, because the artist has Southwest Florida roots.

There's definitely a difference in preference based on where you live. With research compiled by Crosswordhelper, it looks like America's most searched holiday song is “Jingle Bell Rock” by Blake Shelton. Blake did his version back in 2012 with Miranda Lambert.

Coming in at number 2: "This Christmas” by Chris Brown is the second most searched-for holiday song in the U.S. Chris released his version of that classic song back in 2010. It's the favorite song to our northern neighbors in Georgia and some other southern states. With 82 million streams on Youtube alone, it's popularity has not gone away. But are we listening to here in Southwest Florida?

Florida's favorite Christmas song according to Google Trends is easy to learn. The song has just 19 words, 13 in English, 6 in Spanish.  The artist who wrote it told The News-Press in 2010. "I wrote it bilingual so that radio stations had no excuse but to play it. It covered everybody." The song is Feliz Navidad, by José Feliciano who has family in Southwest Florida and actually lived in Lehigh Acres. Jose's Puerto Rican roots tie in perfectly with the Florida Christmas feel, so it's not surprising at all to know that it's our favorite song this holiday season. Feliz Navidad is also number 1 in Texas, another warm weather state. Here's all 19 of those words, so you can sing along.

Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Próspero año y felicidad

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
From the bottom of my heart

I've lived in Southwest Florida a long time. I remember when a lot of the roads in Lehigh Acres were sand. I remember the '08-'09 recession when partially built houses were abandoned all over Lehigh Acres. In fact, back in 2009, The New York Times wrote "In Florida, Despair and Foreclosures". It was a story about Lehigh.

But things have certainly changed in "LA". Census data shows that there's a lot more high earning residents moving to, and living in Lehigh Acres than there was just a few years ago.

A new report discovers where about in the US has the highest increase in households earning over $200,000 - and the biggest decreases.

Over the last 10 years, average household income in America has increased by almost 38%. However, are earnings increasing more rapidly in different states and cities across the US? Which US areas’ household incomes have grown the most (and least) since 2013?

By analyzing CENSUS income data from 2013 to 2021, OLBG has revealed the US areas which have experienced the greatest increase (and decrease) of households earning over $200,000 since 2013. So, who tops this list…

Coming in at number one, with a 6,407% increase in households earning more than $200,000 since 2013, is Hemet in California. The area has grown by 10%, equating to an additional 1,945 households that are earning above the $200,000 threshold.

In a not-so-close second place, we have Miami Gardens in Florida, with an increase of 1,678%. With 9% more household in the area, 1,588 more now earn over the $200,000 mark.

In fact, Florida features heavily on this list, with Lehigh Acres in fifth place, Palm Bay in eighth, and Deltona in ninth all seeing a +1,000% increase in households earning more than $200,000 since 2013.

A 28% increase in households in the past 10 years. But based on data, Lehigh Acres is no longer just a place for people who can't afford Fort Myers to go to. Many of those new residents have household income over $200k.

It may not all be just new people moving into town. Lehigh Acres is more of a 'working class' town. And the latest construction boom in Southwest Florida has made some of them quite a bit of money. Add in a hurricane and experienced roofers are making baaaaaaaank. Can someone in construction make more than a doctor. Yup. Have you seen some of the lifted trucks driving down Lee Blvd?

But what about the other end. Are there places where the high earners are leaving? Also yup.

As more retirees move into certain parts of Florida, the percentage of top earners will go down. If they aren't working, they're less likely to earn 200K a year. That's another thing that makes Lehigh Acres unique. Retirees keep moving there. Yet the percentage of households making $200K+ a year has gone up dramatically.

Plus there's a Popeye's across the street from the Aldi's. Pretty much all I need.

Data was analyzed from 2013-2021 using the US census (https://data.census.gov/table?q=Income+(Households,+Families,+Individuals) ). However, please note that the data for the year 2020 was missing due to Covid data collection issues within the US census. We also excluded areas which had missing information on some of the years.

The columns for each of the tables include:

Full study at OLBG here. 

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OLBG has grown a fun, friendly community of highly knowledgeable sports bettors who share their expertise to help others improve their enjoyment of betting.

Whichever popular sporting event you want to bet on, the OLBG Tipsters have researched the best bets for you.

OLBG has grown a fun, friendly community of highly knowledgeable sports bettors who share their expertise to help others improve their enjoyment of betting.

Whichever popular sporting event you want to bet on, the OLBG Tipsters have researched the best bets for you.