2020 Halloween Statistics: Annual Expenditure Drops By 10%, Lowest In The Last 4 Years.

Michael Lewis

One of the most awaited holidays of the year is nearly upon us wherein people gather to celebrate as businesses bloom and take over the streets, but for this year, that does not seem to be the case. Over the last 4  years, the annual planned Halloween expenditure has consistently gone down, and for this year, it has reached its lowest point by 8 billion U.S dollars.

Due to the compromisations that everyone in the U.S will be facing, we can expect that for this coming 2020 Halloween, a lot of adjustments will have to be made among consumers and businesses.

Halloween 2020 Statistics

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Americans are spending 10% less on Halloween

Based on the collection of data, statistics, and information we gathered from the response of 1015 employees last Labor Day, we can expect the same replication for this upcoming Halloween. People will not be as thrilled for this holiday compared to the other years mainly because of the coronavirus affecting lots of jobs that are contributing to the rise in the unemployment rate. This forces American consumers to spend less than their usual spending budget.

2016 had a planned Halloween expenditure of 6.89 billion dollars only and for the next few years, there was a consistent increase with 9.1 billion dollars in 2017, which was the highest amount of money recorded in the planned Halloween expenditure chart. However, in 2018 the amount decreased once again but not as drastic compared to 2016’s expenditure.

Americans become less interested in 2020 Halloween

Percentage of respondents who plan to celebrate Halloween (Source: Statista)

2017
71.7%
2018
69.5%
2019
68%
2020
58%

As per mentioned, many will not be celebrating this upcoming Halloween. Statistics present that only 58% are going to commemorate this Halloween 2020. Compared to last year’s participants, an amount of 10% would rather not participate this year.

Share who celebrated Halloween in 2019 (Yellow) vs. who plan to in 2020 (Grey)

Source: Morning Consults

Each individual has his or her own reasons for not spending the usual budget, but the majority of the people involved claimed that they would rather not memorialize Halloween because of financial problems due to COVID-19.

About 1 in 3 Adults Don’t Allow Kids To Participate in Trick-or-treating this year

Do you allow your kids to trick-or-treat?

2019

2020

Source: Morning Consults

Compared to last year’s Halloween when the pandemic did not yet exist, there was an amount of 78% adults who allowed the children to go trick-or-treating, and only 22% of parents who did not allow their children to ask for candies and chocolates outdoors.

This year, however, is far more different compared to the previous years. Only 38% of adults permitted their children to go trick-or-treating, and an amount of 31% who forbid their children to go out. There is also another 31% for those adults who do not know or have not decided about that yet.

How Will Americans Celebrate This Halloween?

How will you celebrate Halloween this year? (Source: Statista)

Hand out candy
62%
Decorate home
53%
Carve a pumpkin
46%
Dress in costume
46%
Take children trick-or-treating
23%
Throw or attend a party
22%
Dress pet in costume
18%
Visit haunted house
15%

There are various ways each family prefers to celebrate Halloween. A majority of 68% would just give out candies for trick-or-treaters. These are the families that would rather stay inside their homes and be safe from outsiders that could possibly be infected with the virus. 2nd in the rank is 53% of families who celebrate Halloween by decorating their homes.

46% percent are occupied by those who love the traditional pumpkin carving, and another 46% goes to those who celebrate Halloween by simply wearing a costume, and another category of 18% are the people who dress in a pet costume.

Although there are a lot of adults who do not permit their children to go out trick-or-treating, there is a fair amount of 23% of them that accompany their children to go trick-or-treating.

More Americans plan to carve pumpkins for Halloween

Number of people who planned to carve pumpkins for Halloween in the United States from 2017 to 2020 (1)

Of course, carving pumpkins is a tradition of Halloween that brings the essence to it. People enjoy carving different faces to pumpkins whether it is a scary face or not. It is a way for many to commemorate Halloween. For this year’s Halloween pumpkin carving, it is expected that it will have the highest number of participants in this specific category. Garnering 151 million people across the country which is the highest number of participants in the last 4 years. Toppling the 150 million participants last 2017. This goes to show that despite the ongoing pandemic, people still love their traditional pumpkin carving.

Pumpkin price is expected to increase

Average price of pumpkins during Halloween (2017-2020)

As the law of supply and demand implies, as demand increases, the price also increases. However, this was not the case for 2018 since the price dropped by 0.23. Notably, in 2019 the price went up once again but it is cheaper compared to the price of 2017. For this year, there is an increase of 0.14. This is also the highest price for pumpkins over the last 4 years. Nevertheless, 0.14 won’t stop pumpkin-carving lovers to buy pumpkins as shown above that more participants will be carving this year and it is also the highest number of carvers since 2017.