Our Ultimate Halloween Survey Tells You All About Americans’ Trick-Or-Treating Habits

Halloween is fast-approaching. For some, this is the best celebration of the year! It comes with candy, spooky decorations, fun costumes, and lots of opportunities for DIY projects. It’s a wonderful mix of surprise and excitement. What’s not to love?

With the spookiest day of the year coming up, we decided to learn more about how Americans go about trick-or-treating. We ran a survey in late September 2019 that asked all about their Halloween preferences. This included favorite and least favorite Halloween candies, how much candy they buy for trick-or-treaters, how many pieces of candy someone should take, among others. Read on for all of our findings!

Americans’ Most and Least Favorite Halloween Candies

First, we wanted to see which types of candy Americans love on Halloween. And, which ones they could do without. The top 5 favorites may not surprise you: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (29.6%), Kit Kat (15.6%), Snickers (12.7%), Twix (6.9%), and M&M’s (5.1%). Nearly a third of Americans chose Reese’s as their favorite! Clearly, we love our chocolate here in the U.S.



On the flip side, many of the least favorites were of the chewy variety. The 5 are Candy Corn (22.0%), Sour Patch Kids (17.9%), Whoppers (8.0%), Twizzlers (7.7%), and Smarties (7.0%). We were surprised to see Sour Patch Kids in the number two spot for least favorite, but perhaps Americans simply prefer chocolate treats on Halloween night.

Where Do People Give Out the Most Candy to Trick-Or-Treaters?

Next, we wanted to see where people are most generous to trick-or-treaters, based on how much candy they give out. On average, Americans will purchase 9.8 bags of individually-wrapped candies to give out to trick-or-treaters for Halloween. However, those in the Northeast are most generous (11.7 bags), followed by the West (10.3), South (9.8), and Midwest (7.7).



We also looked at the percentage of individuals who plan to buy full-size candy bars for trick-or-treaters. Nationwide, about 17.9% of those who give out candy will purchase full-size candy bars. You’re most likely to find them in the West (20.7%), followed by the South (18.6%), Northeast (18.4%), and Midwest (13.5%).

How Much Candy Is Acceptable To Take When Trick-Or-Treating?

Respondents also told us how many pieces of candy is acceptable for a trick-or-treater to take from each home. The nationwide average is just about 3 candies (2.9 to be exact). Men, however, think it’s acceptable to take slightly more (3.2, versus 2.8 according to women).



By generation, the average number appears to decrease as Americans get older. Those in Generation Z say 3.4 pieces is acceptable, compared to 2.6 for Baby Boomers. Regionally, those in the West say the most (3.3 pieces) and those in the Midwest say the fewest (2.5).



At What Age Are You Too Old to Trick-Or-Treat?

Next, we asked at what age you become “too old” to go trick-or-treating. We also gave an option to say that you’re never too old — 1 in 4 Americans think so. On average, though, people say you’re too old when you reach age 18 to 19. As you can see on the chart above, most respondents felt that the teenage years were the time to hang up the candy bucket.



Instead, it may be time to trade in trick-or-treating for a couples costume as an adult! When asked if they’re cute or tacky, 86% of respondents said they were cute. Additionally, 34% said they’ve done a couples costume, while 45% said they haven’t but they would.



Americans’ Halloween Decor Plans

Finally, we asked Americans about their decor plans for the upcoming holiday. 2 in 3 Americans say they’ll decorate for Halloween, either outside, inside, or both. 38% of Americans will decorate the inside and outside of their home this month. We also wanted to know about pumpkin carving. It turns out that 1 in 3 Americans always carve pumpkins for Halloween. Lastly, we found out how much people typically spend on decorations for the spooky holiday each year — $54 is the national average.

No matter how you decorate or dress up for Halloween, the important thing is that you’re celebrating. October is a wonderful month for candy, scary movies, and more. So check out all the amazing ways you can get your house ready for the holiday and get in the spirit! Happy Halloween!





