Spending Thanksgiving Alone? You’re Not the Only One.

Thanksgiving is usually thought of as a family holiday, where the diaspora of loved ones finally come together to sit around the table and yell at each other over dry turkey and mealy mashed potatoes. But, statistically speaking, that isn’t always the case.

The Pew Research Center recently released an enormous amount of Thanksgiving stats, facts, and figures, that paint the holiday in a whole new light.

Ninety-one percent of Americans observe the holiday, but how we do it and with whom varies wildly. The vast majority of us (74 percent) will be spending Thanksgiving with other people. But 5 percent are going to celebrate Thanksgiving all alone. These people aren’t lone wolves who want to enjoy a turkey and some cranberry sauce in peaceful solitude. These people largely don’t have the option of being around others for the holiday, usually thanks to work and travel concerns.

Twenty-six percent of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving will have the opposite Thanksgiving experience as they will celebrate with 10 or more people. An even smaller but still fairly significant number, 7 percent, will celebrate with over 20 people.

If you’re one of the lonely ones reading this feeling a hint of jealousy over the 7 percent celebrating with 20 or more people, just know that those people likely hate each other and at least one major fight will erupt at that table that will lead to a major storm-off to a bedroom and everyone eating their cold stuffing and congealed gravy in dead, awkward silence.

With 39 percent of Thanksgiving celebrants visiting other people’s homes for the meal and 34 percent hosting at their own home, there is a much smaller demographic that is much more statistically fascinating to me, and that’s the 3 percent, according to Pew, who will be celebrating Thanksgiving at a restaurant.

I’ve experienced Thanksgivings both big and extremely small, yet never once have I noticed what kinds of restaurants are open on Thanksgiving. The old stereotype of Jews eating Chinese on Christmas makes sense, but I have no idea what kinds of places are open on Thanksgiving day when 91% of Americans are observing. Like, are they eating turkey subs from WaWa?

For all the hubbub of holiday air travel in the media every year, only 2 percent of Americans will fly to their Thanksgiving destinations. The overwhelming majority, 89 percent, say that they’ll drive to Thanksgiving dinner. Sixty-nine percent of those dining away from home will only have to travel an hour or less to their meal, since back in 2022 Pew found that 55 percent of Americans live around an hour’s drive away from a family member.