Letters to Santa Statistics: How Many Letters Does Santa Get?
How many letters does Santa get? Around 8 million letters a year worldwide, according to the Universal Postal Union, the UN agency for postal services.1 In the United States alone, the Postal Service says letters to Santa number “easily in the millions” each year.2
New York City is the capital of Santa mail: more than 500,000 letters a year reach its post office, according to USPS.2 But there's no single official national total, because local post offices, volunteer groups and the online Operation Santa program all count differently.
Below you'll find the best available numbers for the US, how they compare with Canada, France, Germany and Finland, how many letters actually get adopted, and what children really wish for.
Letters to Santa at a glance
Letters to Santa statistics: the US numbers
These are the most recent figures that USPS, local programs and news outlets have published:
| Program | Letters | Source |
|---|---|---|
| USPS letters to Santa, nationwide | “Easily in the millions” a year | USPS FAQ, 2011 |
| New York City post office | More than 500,000 a year | USPS FAQ, 2011 |
| Operation Santa letters adopted | More than 18,000 (2022) | FreightWaves, 2023 |
| Operation Santa packages delivered | More than 21,000 (2020) | USPS Postal Facts |
| North Pole, Alaska | About 120,000 (2005) | NBC News, 2006 |
| Santa Claus, Indiana | More than 22,000 answered (2015) | Dubois County Free Press |
Sources: USPS24, FreightWaves3, NBC News5 and the Dubois County Free Press6. The figures come from different years, so read them as orders of magnitude rather than a ranking.
1. USPS: “easily in the millions”
USPS has collected letters to Santa for more than a century. In its own FAQ the Postal Service says the national total is easily in the millions, and that New York City runs the largest program, with Los Angeles and Chicago also among the big ones.2
2. More than 21,000 packages in the first nationwide year
In 2020, Operation Santa went nationwide for the first time. More than 1 million people visited the website, and more than 21,000 packages were delivered to children.4
3. More than 18,000 letters adopted in 2022
That's the most recent adoption figure reported. USPS spokesperson Sue Brennan said in 2023 that “letter volume and the number of adopters increase every year.”3
4. Far more letters than adopters
USPS said in 2025 that it receives far more letters than it has people to adopt them.7 For 2026, letters must be postmarked by December 5 to be eligible.8 Volunteers sign up on the USPS Operation Santa website.
5. North Pole, Alaska: up to 12,000 letters a day
In 2005, about 120,000 letters from 26 countries arrived in North Pole, Alaska, up to 12,000 a day at peak time, according to NBC News.5
How many letters does Santa get worldwide?
There's no official global count, because every country counts differently. The UPU's 2013 survey of about 20 postal services came to roughly 8 million letters a year, up from about 6 million in 2007.1 Here's how the big Santa countries compare:
| Country | Letters to Santa per year | Source |
|---|---|---|
| United States | Millions (no official national count) | USPS |
| Canada | More than 1 million | Canada Post |
| France | More than 1 million | La Poste via Brut |
| Great Britain | More than 800,000 (2013) | UPU |
| Germany | 564,500 (2025) | Deutsche Post via epd |
| Finland | 550,000 (2013) | UPU |
Sources: USPS2, Canada Post9, La Poste via Brut10, Deutsche Post via epd11 and the UPU1. The UK and Finland figures are from 2013 and may be out of date.
6. Canada: more than a million letters, answered in the writer's language
Canada Post's elves answer more than a million letters a year from around the world, in the language the letter was written in. Santa's Canadian address uses the postal code H0H 0H0.9
7. France: over a million letters since 1962
La Poste's Santa service started in 1962 with about 5,000 letters. Today it receives more than a million a year, answered by a team of about 60 elves.10
8. Finland: almost 25 million letters from about 200 countries
Santa Claus' Main Post Office on the Arctic Circle has received almost 25 million letters in total, with up to 30,000 a day in the busiest season.12
You'll find all the addresses in our guide to the Santa Claus address.
What do kids ask Santa for?
US programs don't publish wish statistics, but Santa Claus' Main Post Office in Finland analyzed 6,000 letters from 45 countries in 2024:13
| What kids asked for | Share of letters |
|---|---|
| Toys | 67.2% |
| A pet | 1.3% |
| A baby brother or sister | 0.2% |
Toys win by far. The analysts also noticed a newer trend: more children asking for time with their family.13 Letters in the USPS program are a mix: many are wish lists or birthday wishes for Santa, while some show real need, and postal elves set those apart for adopters.2
Letters to Santa: USPS dates for 2026
If your child wants to be part of next year's statistics: USPS accepts letters to Santa Claus, 123 Elf Road, North Pole, 88888, and they must be postmarked by December 5, 2026.8 Adoption by volunteers opens on November 16.8
On Christmas Eve, follow Santa on our Santa tracker. And if your child is starting to doubt, read Is Santa real?
Use these numbers
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Letters to Santa: frequently asked questions
How many letters does Santa get each year?
Worldwide, about 8 million, according to a 2013 survey by the Universal Postal Union. In the US alone, USPS says letters to Santa number “easily in the millions” every year.
How many letters to Santa does USPS receive?
USPS doesn't publish a single national total. Its own FAQ says the number is easily in the millions, with more than 500,000 reaching the New York City post office alone.
Which country sends the most letters to Santa?
In the 2013 UPU survey, Canada, France and the US each reported more than one million letters a year. Canada Post and La Poste still report over a million.
How many Operation Santa letters get adopted?
In 2022, more than 18,000 letters were adopted, according to FreightWaves. That's a small share of all letters, and USPS says it always has more letters than adopters.
What do kids wish for most?
Toys. In an analysis of 6,000 letters to Santa Claus' Main Post Office in Finland, 67.2 percent of wishes were toys.
Does every letter to Santa get an answer?
No. Operation Santa letters are only answered if a volunteer adopts them. Canada Post and Santa Claus, Indiana, aim to answer every letter with a return address.
Sources
- 1Universal Postal Union: Santa to receive eight million letters this year (2013) (upu.int)
- 2USPS: Operation Santa / Letters to Santa FAQ (2011) (about.usps.com)
- 3FreightWaves: Postal Service seeks Operation Santa volunteers (2023) (freightwaves.com)
- 4USPS Postal Facts: Operation Santa (facts.usps.com)
- 5NBC News: North Pole, Alaska, flooded with letters to Santa (2006) (nbcnews.com)
- 6Dubois County Free Press: Santa Claus elves answer over 22,000 letters (2016) (duboiscountyfreepress.com)
- 7USPS Newsroom: Operation Santa now accepting letters (2025) (about.usps.com)
- 8FOX 5 New York: USPS launches Operation Santa (Sept. 2026) (fox5ny.com)
- 9Canada Post: Write a letter to Santa (canadapost-postescanada.ca)
- 10Brut: La Poste and the letters to Père Noël (brut.media)
- 11Sonntagsblatt/epd: German Christmas post offices answer over 560,000 letters (2025) (sonntagsblatt.de)
- 12Posti: Santa Claus' Main Post Office (posti.fi)
- 13Pirkkalainen: Santa Claus' Main Post Office analyzed 6,000 letters (2024) (pirkkalainen.fi)