This Washington city belongs in a Hallmark movie, list says. It’s not Leavenworth
Ever dream of living in a Hallmark holiday movie? A city in Washington state is the No. 1 place in the nation “where a Hallmark-style story is most likely” to come true, according to a new ranking.
And it’s not the one you might think.
Leavenworth, the central Washington city that turns into a Bavarian winter wonderland during the holiday season, may seem like an ideal backdrop for a Christmas-themed tale of finding love in a small town — the kind made popular by the Hallmark Channel.
However, Leavenworth didn’t top Action Network’s list of the cities in each state with the most Hallmark vibes.
Instead, the media company, which offers sports betting news and analysis, gave the title to a different city in the Evergreen State.
Here’s which one:
Which Washington city has the most Hallmark vibes?
Puyallup, home to about 43,000 people, claimed the No. 1 spot on Action Network’s ranking of the U.S. cities “where a Hallmark movie is most likely.”
Puyallup has “a 5.4% chance of a Hallmark-style movie happening in real life,” Action Network said, based on its population, the density of small businesses and historic sites, plus state-level December snowfall data.
Puyallup, which boasts more than 13,600 businesses, “has plenty of glowing shop windows and wintry sidewalks for chance encounters and holiday parades,” Action Network said.
While the Pierce County city, which hosts the Washington State Fair, has a “modest” number of historic places, the snow data and “small-business depth are enough to push it to the top of the Hallmark Likelihood Index,” the media company said.
“Picture wreaths on every storefront, a farmers market that changes to a holiday market and a town where everyone actually shows up for the tree lighting,” Action Network said.
What are top 10 Hallmark-like cities in the US?
Action Network said it evaluated 3,000-plus cities across the United States to determine the most Hallmark-like in each state.
Of those 50 state-level victors, these were the top 10 cities with the highest Hallmark probability, according to Action Network:
- Puyallup, Washington — 5.4%
- Farmington, Michigan — 5%
- Poughkeepsie, New York — 4.6%
- Price, Utah — 4.4%
- Naples, Florida — 4.3%
- Bangor, Maine — 3.8%
- Burlington, Vermont — 3.6%
- Fairbanks, Alaska — 3.6%
- Littleton, Colorado — 3.3%
- York, Pennsylvania — 3.1%
How did Action Network come up with ranking?
Action Network said it used data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Open-Meteo API and the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places in coming up with its ranking.
The company stuck to incorporated cities with populations from 3,000 to 50,000 people.
Cities that size are “big enough for a real Main Street and a few romantic prospects,” while also “small enough to still feel neighborly and a little cinematic,” Action Network said.
Action Network also factored in December snowfall and the density of small businesses, because “snow is basically a character in Hallmark movies” and “Hallmark towns lean hard on independent bakeries, bookstores, gift shops, cafés, craft stores and tree farms.”
Finally, the media company “weighed historic landmarks against population, meaning cities with no historic places were out.”
“Charm is the whole point,” Action Network said, “and it’s tough for the lead to walk away from a high-powered city job to rehab a historic inn if there’s no inn.”
This story was originally published December 11, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "This Washington city belongs in a Hallmark movie, list says. It’s not Leavenworth."
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