It is a little early yet for data to show how retail spending is going this holiday season in Lawrence. But my family’s credit card statement must be encouraging. President-elect Trump somehow saw it and tried to appoint me Secretary of Commerce. All this is to say I have the latest report on local retail sales, and it shows that shoppers are still spending more than they did last year, but their pace has slowed a bit.

City officials have received their November sales tax check. The money represents sales taxes collected primarily in September, so it is still a bit early to say this report provides an indication of holiday shopping (unless you count the pre-Halloween candy sales, which I know some people who do.) The latest report shows sales tax collections were up by 1.7 percent compared with the same month a year ago. That growth is positive, but it is not nearly as large a number as what the city has been posting for most of the year. Many of the monthly reports have shown increases of 5 percent or 6 percent, and some even have been double-digit increases.

It will be interesting to watch whether Lawrence’s retail spending flattens out to end the year. Retailers already know whether that’s the case or not, but we can’t really know until we see the reports that will be released over the next few months. (I used to ask retailers for updates on how holiday sales were going, but they inevitably reported everything was going well. In their defense, they had just seen my credit card walk through their front door, so they had reason to be optimistic.)

Thus far for 2016, the city is sitting pretty when it comes to sales tax collections. The state report shows Lawrence sales tax collections year-to-date are up 5.7 percent compared with the same period a year ago. If the city can at least maintain that pace for the rest of the year, the city’s budget will have some unexpected money coming its way. City officials had projected a 3.7 percent increase for the year. Thus far, the city already has collected $1.2 million more in sales tax revenues than it did during the same period of 2015.

The question, though, is whether Lawrence can continue on this pace? Time will tell on that, but in the meantime, something is happening in Lawrence that has it near the top of the charts in terms of retail activity among the big markets in the state. Here’s a look at how Lawrence’s year-to-date growth totals stack up:

• Lawrence: up 5.7 percent

• Olathe: up 3.8 percent

• Topeka: up 3.4 percent

• Overland Park: up 2.7 percent

• Kansas City: up 1.8 percent

• Johnson County: up 1.9 percent

• Manhattan: up 1.7 percent

• Sedgwick County: up 1.3 percent

• Lenexa: down 3 percent

As has been the case most of the year, city officials point to three areas that have spurred the significant increase in sales tax collections: a 25 percent increase in the sales of building materials; a 7 percent increase in the sales of motor vehicles and parts; and 6 percent increase in sales at food and beverage stores, i.e., grocery stores, not restaurants and bars.

In other news and notes from around town:

• Whatever is happening in Lawrence, a new report that ranks the best college towns in America found it only mildly impressive.

The financial website WalletHub has released its annual list of the best college towns in America, and Lawrence ranks No. 69 out of the 415 cities studied.

Obviously, a ranking of No. 69 puts Lawrence solidly in the top quartile of the rankings, but I guess I’m still a bit ho-hum about it because the report ranks a lot of communities that you wouldn’t consider college communities. For instance, Olathe — home to MidAmerica Nazarene University — is ranked as part of the report. Yes, it has a university, but, gentlemen, paint your school’s mascot on your bare chest and walk through downtown Olathe, and you’ll find it is not really a college town.

What’s more notable about this ranking is where Lawrence compares with other big time college communities. Here’s a look at some regional college communities:

• No. 14: Ames, Iowa, home to Iowa State

• No. 17: Iowa City, home to the University of Iowa

• No. 18: Austin, Texas, home to the University of Texas

• No. 28: Morgantown, W. Va., home to the University of West Virgina

• No. 37: Manhattan, home to Kansas State

• No. 48: Boulder, Colo, home to the University of Colorado

• No. 49: Stillwater, Okla, home to Oklahoma State

• No. 51: Columbia, Mo., home to the University of Missouri

• No. 57: Fort Collins, Colo., home to Colorado State

• No. 63: Norman, Okla., home to the University of Oklahoma

• No. 69: Lawrence, home to the University of Kansas

• No. 78: Waco, Texas, home to Baylor University

• No. 82: Lincoln, Neb., home to the University of Nebraska

• No. 110: Fort Worth, Texas, home to Texas Christian

• No. 112: Lubbock, Texas, home to Texas Tech

If you are interested in the top 5 overall, they are:

• No. 1: Oxford, Ohio, home to Miami University

• No. 2: East Lansing Mich., home to Michigan State

• No. 3: West Lafayette, Ind., home to Purdue

• No. 4: Athens, Ohio, home to Ohio University

• No. 5: Amherst Center, Mass., home to University of Massachusetts

So, as the list above demonstrates, there is a reason to allow Texas schools to be in our conference. Without Waco, Fort Worth and Lubbock, Lawrence would have been last of the Big 12 towns in this study.

But, of course, it is just one study and, like all rankings, it is highly subjective. But WalletHub does generally use solid data from the Census Bureau and other government agencies to compile its rankings, so that is why I pass some of them along.

Unfortunately, this report doesn’t provide a lot of specifics about what areas Lawrence excelled in or struggled in as part of the ranking. It does rate Lawrence as No. 138 in ‘wallet fitness” rank, which includes items such as housing and living costs. Lawrence scored worse in the “social and environmental” rank, coming in at No. 212. That category includes everything from number of bars and restaurants per capita to crime rate statistics. Lawrence’s best area was “academic and economic opportunities” rank, at No. 76. That includes, among other topics, a look at rankings of the university itself, unemployment rates and job growth numbers.

So, make whatever you will of it. My takeaway is it probably is still going to be awhile before I can return to downtown Olathe.