The economy may still be floundering. But the Christmas tree business is booming. According to new study by research firm IBISWorld, Americans will spend an estimated $3.4 billion on Christmas trees this year, the highest amount since 2007. Here, a brief guide, by the numbers, to this "booming" holiday business:
25 million
Real Christmas trees Americans will buy this year, according to IBISWorld's forecast
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$800 million
Estimated retail cost of those trees
10 million
Artificial trees Americans will buy this holiday season
$2.6 billion
Estimated retail cost of those artificial trees
$3.4 billion
Total estimated Christmas tree spending this year
3.1
Estimated increase, in percent, from last year's Christmas tree spending
$3.51 billion
Amount Americans spent on Christmas trees in 2007
$3.14 billion
Amount Americans spent on Christmas trees in 2008, when the global financial meltdown took a huge bite out of this seasonal industry
80
Percent of all artificial trees that are manufactured in China
6 to 9
Number of years an average family uses an artificial tree before throwing it away
7
Number of years it takes, on average, to grow a typical Christmas tree
More than 100,000
People who are employed either part-time or full-time in the Christmas tree industry
Sources: Bloomberg, Mental Floss, National Christmas Tree Association, Valley Breeze, Washington Post
