Halloween tops the holiday list for many Americans, and is a great excuse to or splurge on fun purchases such as spooky decorations and creepy costumes. According to a study conducted by the National Retail Federation, more than 171 million Americans are expected to spend money on Halloween this year, amounting to approximately $8.4 billion.
Recently, real estate information site Zillow rolled out an analysis of 2016’s 20 best cities for trick or treating, based on key metrics including home values, house density, crime rate, and the share of population under 10 years old. While Zillow’s methodology offers a comprehensive point of view, there’s one important factor missing: home occupancy. After all, trick-or-treating could only take place in lived-in dwellings where there are residents making efforts to decorate and entertain. Therefore, looking into the occupancy status of a city does speak to its trick-or-treating friendliness.
Home Occupancy Rate
1. San Jose, Calif. Occupancy Rate: 96.5%
2. Seattle, Wash. Occupancy Rate: 94.7%
3. Denver, Colo. Occupancy Rate: 94.4%
4. San Diego, Calif. Occupancy Rate: 93.7%
5. Los Angeles, Calif. Occupancy Rate: 93.6%
6. Portland, Ore. Occupancy Rate: 92.3%
7. Charlotte, N.C. Occupancy Rate: 92.2%
8. Austin, Texas Occupancy Rate: 91.8%
9. Nashville-Davidson, Tenn. Occupancy Rate: 91.7%
10. San Francisco, Calif. Occupancy Rate: 91.5%
11. Albuquerque, N.M. Occupancy Rate: 91.2%
12. Washington, D.C. Occupancy Rate: 91.0%
13. Milwaukee, Wis. Occupancy Rate: 90.1%
14. Dallas, Texas Occupancy Rate: 90%
15. Columbus, Ohio Occupancy Rate: 89.2%
16. Phoenix, Ariz. Occupancy Rate: 89.1%
17. Chicago, Ill. Occupancy Rate: 87.6%
18. Philadelphia, Pa. Occupancy Rate: 86.5%
19. Las Vegas, Nev. Occupancy Rate: 85.5%
20. Baltimore, Md. Occupancy Rate: 80.2%
Source: American Community Survey 2015
Here at BUILDER, we’ve pulled the most current (2015) home occupancy data from the Census Bureau for each of the 20 trick-or-treating cities (on city-level, instead of MSA) and re-ranked the whole list according to its occupancy status. In short, we’ve made some tweaks on the order of 20 cities, and moved up those with a higher home occupancy rate.
Below is a bump chart visualizing the changes of order that we have made. Hover over the colums and see how a city’s rank differs between the two studies.
