Beat the Thanksgiving Traffic Rush This Year by Avoiding These Key Times

With Thanksgiving fast approaching, chances are that you’re among the 81 million Americans who are planning on traveling over the holiday period. If you’re hosting this year, of course, perhaps you’re one of the nearly 200 million people who will be heading to the store in the coming days and weeks—either to stock up on Thanksgiving dinner essentials, or to make the most of the Black Friday sales.

And now, a new survey by Google has uncovered the best (and worst) times to set off. 

Thanksgiving Traffic Across the Country

Ahead of the big day, you can expect road traffic nationwide to be at its busiest on Wednesday, and in particular on Wednesday afternoon, peaking between 1–3 p.m. If possible, the study’s authors suggest heading off late on Tuesday afternoon instead—or else, if your travel plans extend onto Thanksgiving Day itself (or you need to pop out to pick up something you’ve forgotten!), aim for Thursday morning, as traffic is expected to be most congested in the early afternoon, from 12–3 p.m. 

If you’re heading to the Black Friday sales, the busiest time is again predicted to be between 1–3 p.m., so a better option would be sometime before noon. And when it’s time to head home, the weekend traffic looks likely to peak between midday and 3 p.m., on both Saturday and Sunday, with the quietest time on both days being before 10 a.m.

The Busiest Shopping Days for the Holidays

The study’s authors also analyzed business data from each state’s most popular malls to find the best and worst times to head out shopping, plotting all the figures on a state-by-state map. In the majority of states, Tuesday is the quietest day overall, with Saturday afternoon predictably being the busiest time of the week. 

But the same data was also used to look ahead over the coming weeks in the runup to Christmas, revealing which specific dates are typically the busiest for Christmas shoppers outside of Black Friday, which states tend to get things prepped well ahead of time, and which are the most likely to have a last-minute rush. 

By far the most organized state is Rhode Island, where the busiest holiday period shopping day is the first Saturday in November. Maine, Massachusetts, South Dakota and Vermont are also at the better end of the preparation stats, with their shopping peaking a week later, on the second Saturday in November.

In no less than eight states, however, shoppers tend to leave things to the last minute, with the shopping malls in Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, and Utah tending to be at their busiest on December 23. 

When it comes to last-minute prep, the Google data also showed what kinds of stores tend to see the biggest increase in trade in the last few days before Christmas, in twenty of the United States’ largest cities.

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Predictably, shopping centers, outlet malls, and department stores came out on top in a number of cities, but there were a handful of more curious findings dotted across the country.

Austin and New York were the only cities in which toy stores made the top three (alongside leather goods stores in the case of New York, oddly), while Christmas markets made the list in Atlanta, Seattle, and Washington. Shoppers in Austin and Honolulu also headed to coffee shops for a little pre- or post-shopping pick-me-up, while shoppers in Denver showed their frugal side by making dollar stores one of the city’s most frequented places between December 20–25. 

When it comes to dropping gifts and cards in the mail, meanwhile, the Google data also showed that post offices see their busiest day two Mondays before Christmas, with Mondays routinely being the busiest day of the week (and 2 p.m. being the busiest time of day). To avoid the queues, try going at 2 p.m. Tuesday when the post offices are at their quietest. 

 For more information on the study’s data and its findings, head to the Google Maps blog here.