Texas' Christmas tree industry generated $714M in 2022
Last year, the real Christmas tree industry had an overall impact of $714 million on the state economy — when accounting for direct, indirect and induced impacts — and helped assist almost 6,000 jobs statewide.
TEXAS (KXAN) — Texas' Christmas tree industry contributed more than $700 million to the state's economy in 2022, according to a Tuesday Texas A&M Forest Service release.
The Texas A&M Forest Service found more than four million real Christmas trees are sold each year statewide. Last year, the real Christmas tree industry had an overall impact of $714 million on the state economy — when accounting for direct, indirect and induced impacts — and helped assist almost 6,000 jobs statewide.
When broken down into direct economic impacts, the Texas Christmas tree industry generated $397 million and employed just shy of 4,000 people, the Texas A&M Forest Service said.
“It’s a tradition in many households to have a real Christmas tree,” said Dr. Aaron Stottlemyer, Texas A&M Forest Service Forest Analytics Department head, in the release. “The process of going as a family to pick out a tree is a fun activity that supports rural economies across the state.”
While real Christmas trees are often affiliated with colder climates in the U.S., Christmas trees are grown in all 50 states, per the release. Some of the more popular kinds of Christmas trees grown in Texas include the Virginia pine, Afghan pine, eastern redcedar shortleaf pine, Arizona cypress and the Leyland cypress, experts said.
Despite Christmas trees growing nationwide, national trends have shown a decrease in real Christmas tree sales since 2018. The sale of artificial Christmas trees has outpaced that of real trees since 2020, per the Forest Service.
Forest Services experts stressed the reuse opportunities that come from real Christmas trees, such as using old trees for mulch in yards and gardens, nest-building resources for birds and natural water habitats for fish or wildlife living near lakes and ponds.
Stottlemyer added the Christmas tree industry helps fulfill trees' lifecycles while supporting sustainable forest creations.
"Christmas tree farms are essentially young forests,” Stottlemyer added in the release. “They are able to provide us the same benefits as traditional forests by sequestering carbon, providing a natural habitat for wildlife, cleaning our water and providing recreational opportunities.”