Halloween Statistics: Spending, Turnout, Safety and Search Data

Halloween Statistics: Spending, Turnout, Safety and Search Data

Halloween statistics start with one survey: US consumers plan to spend $13.5 billion on Halloween in 2026, or $115.14 a head, and 74% plan to celebrate, per the National Retail Federation's poll of 7,889 people taken 1 to 9 September 2026 (margin of error ±1.1 points). Britain is a different country: 28% of adults told YouGov in October 2024 that they would celebrate.

Every figure here carries its source, survey date and sample, because a number without a denominator is just a rumour. We apply the same rule to ourselves. Of 57,456 logged views of SubhSandesh pages, 27,725 (48.3%) happened on phones, and each page averages 11.1 views; neither is a Halloween figure. Below: spending back to 2005, turnout, candy, costumes, pets, pumpkins, injuries, search interest, the myths, and how to read all of it.

How much do Americans spend on Halloween?

The NRF has run its Halloween survey, fielded by Prosper Insights & Analytics, every year since 2005. The 2026 release, dated 22 September 2026, forecasts $13.5 billion in total, up from a record $13.1 billion in 2025.

The long series on NRF's Halloween data centre shows the climb is not smooth. Totals there start in 2010 at $5.8 billion, fall back in 2013 ($7 billion), 2015 ($6.9 billion), 2020 ($8 billion) and 2024 ($11.6 billion), then reach $13.5 billion in 2026.

Per-person budgets go back further: $48.48 in 2005, $86.27 in 2019, $102.74 in 2021 and $115.14 in 2026. That nominal jump is 137%. Adjusted with the Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U (198.8 in September 2005, 334.980 in August 2026), the 2005 budget is about $81.69 in today's money, so the real rise is closer to 41%.

Discount stores lead (39%), ahead of specialty Halloween stores (32%) and online (27%); local small businesses drew 13%, against 7% in 2016. By category, the 2026 money splits like this:

• Decorations: $4.3 billion, bought by 78% of shoppers
• Costumes for children, adults and pets: $4.4 billion, 71% buying
• Candy: $4.1 billion, 96% buying
• Greeting cards: $0.8 billion, 42% buying, up from 38% in 2025

How many people celebrate Halloween in the US and UK?

In the US, 74% of NRF respondents planned to celebrate in 2026. The same question gave 53% in 2005, 72% in 2012, 68% in 2019 and a pandemic low of 58% in 2020. The top activities planned for 2026 are handing out candy (61%), decorating the home or yard (42%), carving a pumpkin (42%) and watching scary films (42%).

The Census Bureau sizes the night itself. Its Facts for Features release of 8 October 2026 counts 72.0 million children under 18 as of 1 July 2025, and 132.7 million occupied homes in 2024. Of those homes, 56.6 million had steps up to the door in the 2023 American Housing Survey.

Britain celebrates far less. YouGov's poll of 2,121 GB adults, fielded 16 to 17 October 2024 and published 31 October, found 28% planning to celebrate and 66% not. Age divides opinion: 54% of adults aged 18–24 view the night positively, against 12% of over-65s.

Among British celebrants, 55% planned to hand out treats, 44% to carve a pumpkin and 23% to go trick-or-treating. Bonfire Night (5 November) still wins: 44% of Britons prefer it, against 16% for Halloween.

Candy, costume, pet and pumpkin statistics

1. Candy

Candy is the near-universal purchase: between 94% and 96% of NRF buyers have planned to buy it every year from 2010 to 2026. The 2026 total is $4.1 billion. No pounds-of-candy figure appears in the NRF or Census releases; the Census does count 3,409 US confectionery and nut stores and 280 establishments making products from cacao beans, both from 2023 County Business Patterns (employers only).

2. Costumes

NRF's rankings are survey shares scaled up to the population, so read them as estimates. Spider-Man heads the 2026 children's list at 4.6 million; a generic superhero (2.3 million), princesses (2.2 million), and witches and ghosts (1.6 million apiece) follow. Among adults, 4.8 million plan a witch and 4.2 million a vampire, ahead of Batman at 2 million, Spider-Man at 1.5 million and ghosts at 1.4 million. The Census counted 681 formal wear and costume rental businesses in 2023.

3. Pet costumes

Pet costumes get $0.92 billion of the 2026 budget. The top choice, a pumpkin, was named by only 11.6% of pet-costume buyers, then a hot dog (5.9%) and a ghost (2.8%). No pet costume dominates the way witch does for adults.

4. Pumpkins

The USDA Economic Research Service pumpkin statistics page (revised 29 September 2026), puts the 2025 crop at 1.47 billion pounds from 68,100 acres. That is 4% above 2024 but 7% under the 2022 to 2024 average of 1.58 billion pounds.

Five states grew nearly 72% of it, and each American had about 5.2 pounds of pumpkin available in 2025, against roughly 4 pounds a year in 2001 to 2004. USDA surveys only the top-producing states and publishes the next year, so the 2026 crop figure will not exist until 2027.

Halloween safety statistics: injuries and pets

In a release dated 18 October 2022, the Consumer Product Safety Commission put Halloween emergency department visits at about 3,200 a year, averaged over the prior three years. Pumpkin carving caused 55%, falls 25%, and costume, decoration, ingestion and allergy cases the remaining 20%. Adults were 54% of the injured.

The share moves with the window: a year earlier the agency gave 3,600 a year and 48% from carving, so quote the release date with any CPSC figure.

For pets, the best data is British. A 2017 Veterinary Record study searched 2.7 million consultation records from 229 UK practices (November 2012 to May 2017) and found 386 chocolate-exposure cases. Christmas raised the odds of a dog being seen for chocolate 4.74 times and Easter 1.97 times, but Halloween's 1.55 was not statistically significant (95% CI 0.97 to 2.46).

Not significant is not the same as safe: the UK sample could not separate Halloween from an ordinary week, though the authors note German and US reviews did.

Halloween search interest by month

Google Trends scores interest 0 to 100 relative to the busiest point in the chosen window, so it shows shape, not volume. Its data endpoint refused our automated requests on 14 October 2026, so we used a public count instead.

The Wikimedia pageviews API counts human views of the English Wikipedia "Halloween" article. In 2025 the article drew 1,781,744 views, and 50.1% of them came in October. On 31 October 2025 it took 269,293 views, about 169 times its median day of 1,594.

Annual views fell 41%, from 3,002,384 in 2023 to 1,781,744 in 2025, while NRF turnout rose. A pageview series measures one website; people may now get the answer before they click.

Halloween statistics that circulate without a source

"Halloween is the second-biggest commercial holiday." NRF's own 2026 surveys contradict it. Mother's Day is forecast at $38 billion, Valentine's Day at $29.1 billion and Easter at $24.9 billion, all above Halloween's $13.5 billion, and the November to December season tops $1 trillion. The baskets differ, but on no NRF figure is Halloween second.

Pounds of candy sold. Poundage totals for Halloween candy are widely shared, yet neither the NRF nor the Census releases above publishes one. Until a source with a method appears, treat any poundage number as unsourced.

"A record year." NRF's 2026 total is the highest nominal figure in its series, and "record" is true in that sense. After inflation, the 2026 per-person budget is about 41% above 2005, not the 137% the raw dollars suggest.

How to read Halloween statistics

Five questions sort a usable number from a viral one. Who was asked, when, how many, what was measured (plans, sales or counts), and whether the figure is adjusted for inflation. The table below compares the main sources used above on those terms.

The ±1.1 points applies to NRF percentages. The dollar totals are those answers scaled up, so they carry extra uncertainty the release does not state.

Watch for silent source switches. The Census's 2025 release gave 133.2 million occupied homes from the 2023 American Housing Survey; its 2026 release gives 132.7 million from the 2024 American Community Survey. The drop is a change of survey, not of homes.

One Halloween message for one person

Statistics describe crowds. A greeting page is for a single person on 31 October (a Saturday in 2026, a Sunday in 2027); it won't run a party or a classroom quiz.

For that one person there are two pages. The regular Halloween card, where they carve a pumpkin and answer "Will you be my boo?" is roughly a five-minute build with room for six photos. The premium Halloween page with your recorded voice and a timed unlock needs about ten minutes, fits 12 photos plus up to 60 seconds of audio, and lets them write back.

Across our platform, 9 in 10 started pages (90.9%) end up published and shared. For someone who skips Halloween, the full template gallery covers other occasions; none of these suit a group, someone who won't open a link, or a reader who needs a non-English interface.

Sources

• National Retail Federation, 2026 Halloween consumer survey release, 22 September 2026.
• National Retail Federation, Halloween data centre, 2005–2026 series, accessed 14 October 2026.
• US Census Bureau, Facts for Features: Halloween, CB26-FF.08, 8 October 2026.
• YouGov, How do Britons feel about Halloween?, 31 October 2024.
• USDA Economic Research Service, pumpkin background and statistics page, page update of 29 September 2026.
• Noble et al., Heightened risk of canine chocolate exposure at Christmas and Easter, Veterinary Record, 2017 (CC BY).
• Also named, unlinked: CPSC news release, 18 October 2022; BLS CPI-U series CUUR0000SA0; Wikimedia pageviews API; NRF Mother's Day, Valentine's Day and Easter 2026 pages.