Every fall, tourists head to New England, in the northeastern US, to watch the leaves change colors. How much do they spend?
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$8 billion
Leaf peepers spend about $8 billion across New England every fall, almost all of it in a few weeks. Vermont alone counts 2.5 million visitors spending about $500 million, roughly fourteen times what the state's 2024 total solar eclipse brought in.
Temperature decides how vivid the reds get, but the trigger is daylight: as nights lengthen, trees stop making chlorophyll and the yellows and oranges that were there all summer show through.
New England, in the northeastern US, makes about $8 billion a year in a few weeks, from people who come to look at its leaves.
Source: US National Park Service; Vermont Agency of Commerce · checked Feb 2025