Santa and his elves get busier with every passing year, but sometimes even Kris Kringle has to use his black card to get the job done. And according to a new study by Wallethub, Santa's gonna be working overtime to fulfill the orders for residents of Cedar Park this holiday season.

The personal finance experts have determined Cedar Park is the U.S. city with the No. 44 most expensive holiday spending budget in 2023 (out of more than 550 total cities). Shoppers are expected to spend $2,354 this festive season.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Cedar Park's estimated population of 77,642 had a median household income of $110,478.

This isn't Cedar Park's first time in the holiday shopping spotlight, but the Austin suburb ranked much higher — No. 14 nationally — in last year's report with an average spending budget of $2,855.

Austin is another returnee, and rose from No. 78 last year into No. 71 this year. The average holiday budget for an Austin household is $1,877 this year, in comparison to $1,705 last year.

The Austin area's average budget is much more affordable than Frisco's, which ranked No. 3 in the nation with an average household holiday spending budget of $3,546.

Six other Central Texas cities landed in this year's report on the heftiest holiday budgets:

• No. 262 – Waco ($1,185)
• No. 283 – Round Rock ($1,148)
• No. 300 – New Braunfels ($1,108)
• No. 425 – Temple ($903)
• No. 457 – San Antonio ($844)
• No. 481 – Killeen ($793)

Each year, WalletHub calculates the maximum holiday budget for more than 550 U.S. cities "to help consumers avoid post-holiday regret," the website says. The study factors in income, age of the population, and other financial indicators such as debt-to-income ratio, monthly-income-to monthly-expenses ratio, and savings-to-monthly-expenses ratio.

Shoppers will have to keep a closer eye on their bank accounts this year while they search for the best gifts for their loved ones. Many consumers are running out of savings accumulated during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Yao Jin, an associate professor of supply chain management at Miami University.

To combat overspending, Jin suggests setting hard budgets based on personal financial circumstances and develop a list of "must haves" rather than "nice to haves."

"Holiday times are festive, and retailers know that festivities can boost mood and lead to a propensity to overspend," he said in the Wallethub report. "In fact, that is also why retailers tend to have more generous return policies to both alleviate concerns of unwanted gifts and buyer’s remorse. The key to avoiding holiday overspending is for consumers to take the emotions out of the decision, to the extent possible."

• No. 5 – Flower Mound ($3,485)
• No. 10 – The Woodlands ($3,316)
• No. 14 – Sugar Land ($3,210)
• No. 22 – Allen ($2,964)
• No. 30 – Plano ($2,566)
• No. 31 – Pearland ($2,566)
• No. 34 – Missouri City ($2,517)
• No. 56 – McKinney ($2,165)
• No. 67 – Carrollton ($1,928)
• No. 77 – Richardson ($1,809)
• No. 95 – League City ($1,733)
• No. 99 – North Richland Hills ($1,706)

The report and its methodology can be found on wallethub.com.