More than 100 million people visit the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree each year, finding joy in its size and beauty against the backdrop of New York City.
The 2025 tree arrived in Midtown Manhattan from East Greenbush in Rensselaer County, New York, a suburb of Albany. The 75-year-old Norway spruce stands 75 feet tall and tips the scales at 11 tons.
A celebrity-packed party on December 3, which was broadcast on NBC‘s Christmas in Rockefeller Center, saw the evergreen’s lights ceremoniously switched on for the first time, signaling the start of the holiday season.
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The tree will remain on display through mid-January of 2026, but even after it’s taken down, it will continue to benefit others.
What happens to the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree after it comes down?
Each year since 2007, once the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree comes down, it’s donated to the global housing nonprofit Habitat for Humanity International to be milled into lumber that’s used to build homes for families in need.
Specifically, the tree’s cut into large pieces that are taken to a mill in New Jersey to be sawed. The pieces are then brought to a landscaping company to be dried, milled, and planed until they’re smooth. Then, the beams are shipped to one of the nonprofit’s locations that’s picked to receive them.
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What has the wood from past Rockefeller Center Christmas Trees been used for?
Wood from the 2007 Christmas tree was used to build a new home for a family in Pascagoula, Mississippi, that was displaced by Hurricane Katrina, a Habitat for Humanity rep told The Center Magazine.
A few beams from 2013’s tree were used in Bridgeport, Connecticut for every home the nonprofit built there for several years. And wood from the 2011 and 2014 trees was used to build multiple homes in Philadelphia.
There’s still plenty of time to check out the gorgeous Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree in all its glory before it’s taken down in mid-January and donated to Habitat for Humanity.
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How many lights are on the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center?
The tree is decked out in 50,000 multicolored LED lights and topped with a 900-pound Swarovski star boasting 70 spikes covered in 3 million crystals