Halloween is increasingly celebrated all around the world, but nobody does it quite like the U.S.A. It’s our third most popular holiday after Christmas and Thanksgiving. We’ve got events, traditions, foods, even music keyed to the occasion. In fact, there are so many that they can be ranked — these are the most popular Halloween songs of all time.
Whether it’s raucous parades, grown-up costume parties, armies of pint-sized trick-or-treaters — you’ll be seeing a lot of little Barbies, princesses, and Spider-Men out there (those being the top three costume choices for 2023, according to USA Today) — or “Monster Mash” on endless repeat, there’s no doubt that this is an observance the whole nation gets into.
Some places, however, do it better than others, at least according to “Best Places for Halloween (2023),” published by WalletHub, a financial planning site. WalletHub drew data from 10 governmental and non-governmental sources to compare the 100 largest U.S. cities across 20 key differently weighted metrics in three broad categories — trick-or-treater friendliness (population density, crime rate, perception of safety, etc.), Halloween fun (including number of haunted houses, pumpkin patches, candy stores, and costume shops per capita), and Halloween weather. (These are the 13 states that grow the most pumpkins.)
The winner, with a composite score more than 10 points above the No. 2 metropolis, was…New York City (whose annual Greenwich Village street party alone ought to earn it the honor).
The other end of the scale? Let’s just say you might want to stay home on Oct. 31 if you live in Birmingham, Alabama.
Top 10 Cities for Halloween
| Overall Rank | City | Total Score | Trick-or-Treater-Friendliness | Halloween Fun | Halloween Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York, NY | 74.38 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 2 | Las Vegas, NV | 63.52 | 40 | 1 | 38 |
| 3 | Los Angeles, CA | 61.39 | 23 | 5 | 38 |
| 4 | Miami, FL | 60.96 | 31 | 4 | 20 |
| 5 | Jersey City, NJ | 59.87 | 2 | 98 | 30 |
| 6 | Anaheim, CA | 59.00 | 16 | 10 | 30 |
| 7 | San Diego, CA | 58.75 | 37 | 7 | 20 |
| 8 | Boston, MA | 58.70 | 3 | 69 | 27 |
| 9 | Hialeah, FL | 58.35 | 5 | 62 | 20 |
| 10 | Gilbert, AZ | 57.04 | 4 | 52 | 38 |
The Bottom 10 Cities for Halloween
| Overall Rank | City | Total Score | Trick-or-Treater-Friendliness | Halloween Fun | Halloween Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 91 | Detroit, MI | 36.63 | 93 | 46 | 54 |
| 92 | Wichita, KS | 36.10 | 78 | 60 | 100 |
| 93 | Kansas City, MO | 35.39 | 89 | 81 | 69 |
| 94 | Winston-Salem, NC | 35.12 | 91 | 99 | 4 |
| 95 | Anchorage, AK | 35.03 | 87 | 97 | 63 |
| 96 | Tulsa, OK | 34.13 | 88 | 48 | 98 |
| 97 | Nashville, TN | 32.92 | 92 | 80 | 89 |
| 98 | Memphis, TN | 30.99 | 99 | 64 | 37 |
| 99 | Baton Rouge, LA | 30.21 | 97 | 66 | 92 |
| 100 | Birmingham, AL | 27.42 | 100 | 39 | 80 |