America’s Best and Worst States for Halloween, Index
Bring on the haunted houses, spooky costumes, candy galore, and picturesque pumpkin patches – it’s spooky season! It’s the most boo-tiful time of the year where you can experience adrenaline rushes, create fang-tastic memories, and transform into your favorite character for one night only. But which state takes the crown witch hat as the best for all things Halloween?
To reveal the best Halloween state, we brewed up our Halloween Fun Factor, looking at the following spook-tacular criteria: the number of Halloween events (parties and bars), haunted houses, pumpkin patches, haunted corn mazes, ghost tours, and costume stores from Party City and Spirit Halloween – all measured per capita. We stirred these into our weighted index to reveal which state casts the best spell when it comes to Halloween fun!
Key Findings:
- New York wins the title of the Best Halloween State in America, with a Halloween Fun Factor score of 78.4/100
- California follows closely in 2nd place (75.9), while Pennsylvania creeps in at 3rd place (54.2)
- Alaska lands at the bottom as the Least Halloween-Friendly State, with a chillingly low score of 0.2/100
Hauntingly good: Top 5 best Halloween states
New York City claims the title of the Best Halloween State in America, conjuring up frighteningly high Halloween Fun Factor score of 78.4/100. The Empire State is crawling with 2,800 Halloween attractions in total – that’s one spooky experience for every 7,000 Halloween lovers. New York scares off the competition by ranking #1 nationwide for pumpkin patches (140) and ghost tours (19) – and #2 nationwide for corn mazes (59) and haunted houses (35). If you’re looking for a night out, the state offers 2,400 Halloween parties and bar events as well. Need a last-minute costume? 49 Party City and 98 Spirit Halloween stores have you covered this spooky season!
California creeps its way into 2nd place as the Best Halloween State, with a Halloween Fun Factor score of 75.9/100. The Golden State is home to 3,593 Halloween attractions, to keep the haunted vibes alive! It takes the #1 spot nationwide for haunted houses (50), Party City locations (84), Spirit Halloween stores (197), and Halloween parties and bar events (3,160). For those looking for the perfect pumpkin pic, California also holds 80 pumpkin patches (#3 nationwide). Feeling brave? The state offers 14 haunted corn-mazes and 8 ghosts tours to give you a good scare!
Pennsylvania haunts its way into the 3rd place as the Best Halloween State, with a Halloween Fun Factor of 54.2/100 and 1,169 attractions this season. As the home of Gettysburg – famous for its ghostly activities – Pennsylvania offers 18 ghost tours, making it the #2 spot for spooky specters. It also ranks #4 nationwide for haunted houses (33) and corn mazes (55). With 68 pumpkin patches and 900 Halloween parties and bars, there’s plenty to keep both the chill-seekers and thrill-seekers entertained all season long!
Following closely behind, Texas ranks 4th place overall (54.1/100), with Ohio following in 5th place (53/100).
Ghost towns: The least Halloween-friendly states
Alaska takes the title of the Least Halloween-Friendly State, with a chillingly low Halloween Fun Factor score of…0.2/100. The Last Frontier State offers just 37 spooky attractions for its Halloween enthusiasts. With 31 Halloween parties and bar events making up the bulk, they fall short with only 4 costume stores, 1 haunted house, and 1 pumpkin patch for its 733k residents. Maybe they’re saving their festive spirit for Christmas?
Hawaii ranks as the 2nd Least Halloween-Friendly State, with a Halloween Fun Factor score of 1.5/100. This season, the islands are only hosting 130 total attractions, with 120 Halloween parties and bar events making up for the majority. For its 1.4M residents, there are only 2 pumpkin patches, 1 haunted house, 1 ghost tour, and 6 costume stores. With its endless summer vibes, perhaps there’s no room for spookiness in the air!
Wyoming finds itself among the least festive states for Halloween, coming in 3rd place with low Halloween Fun Factor of 1.8/100. Hosting the lowest Halloween attraction in the nation, Wyoming offers just 32 spooky experiences this season. Residents can find 20 Halloween parties and bar events, 3 costume stores, 3 pumpkin patches, 2 haunted houses, and 1 ghost tour for its 584k residents. Looks like Wyoming is saving its scares for another season.
Following closely behind, Delaware ranks 4th last (2.4/100), with Vermont following in 5th to last place (2.5/100).
Conclusion
If you’re a die-hard Halloween fan, let our index serve as the ultimate roadmap to find your perfect Halloween destination to celebrate the spooky season! From haunted houses, ghost tours, to pumpkin patches, our rankings have you covered. Happy Halloween!
Methodology
In October 2024, we created a weighted index on the following factors:
- # of Haunted Houses = 25%
- # of Halloween Events = 20%
- # of Pumpkin Patches = 18%
- # of Haunted Corn Mazes = 12%
- # of Ghost Tours = 10%
- # of Party City Costume Stores = 7%
- # of Spirit Halloween Costume Stores = 7%
The data was measured per capita, then scored on a scale of 0-100 to find the best Halloween States.
State-specific data were collected from the following sites:
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Feel free to use the data or visuals on this page for non-commercial purposes. Please be sure to include proper attribution linking back to this page to give credit to the authors.
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