Cincinnati is one of the best cities in the United States for Halloween fun, according to a new study from WalletHub.
According to WalletHub, Halloween-related spending and expenses are expected to top $13.1 billion in 2025. To see which places were the best for celebrating the spookiest day of the year, the personal finance brand analyzed the 100 largest cities across the country using 20 key metrics in three main dimensions: Trick-or-Treater Friendliness, Halloween Fun and Halloween Weather.
Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, and then each city received a weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score. Cincinnati landed in the top 20 cities, ranking at No. 18 with a weighted average of 51.62.
Across the three dimensions, Cincinnati scored in the bottom half of cities when it came to Trick-or-Treater Friendliness, ranking at No. 64 out of 100 cities. Metrics in this dimension included the share of potential trick-or-treaters (the population of those aged 14 or younger), the share of potential trick-or-treat stops (occupied housing units), the walkability score and crime rate.
However, when it came to Halloween Fun, Cincinnati is in the top 10 cities at No. 8, brought up in the rankings for our Halloween costume stores per capita (we ranked No. 1 in that metric), candy and chocolate stores and haunted houses per capita. We also ranked No. 4 for Halloween weather, which looked at Halloween temperature versus average temperature and forecasted Halloween precipitation.
Taking the top three spots as the best cities for Halloween are New York City, Jersey City and Los Angeles. Cincinnati was the top-ranking city in the region, with our neighbors Columbus ranking No. 40, Louisville at No. 44, Indianapolis at No. 60, Lexington at No. 79 and Cleveland at No. 85.
Cincinnati does take its Halloween fun seriously, with plenty of haunted houses and attractions for both horror hounds and scaredy cats alike. Kings Island’s Halloween Haunt offers multiple “scare zones” throughout the park, accompanied by a family-friendly Fall Festival during the daylight hours for a milder Halloween experience. There’s also Land of Illusion’s Haunted Scream Park, featuring several haunted houses, and the much-beloved Dent Schoolhouse and USS Nightmare.
For the “slight frights” better-suited for little ones, Heritage Village Museum puts on an annual Haunted Village fundraiser, featuring a haunted train, trick-or-treating, crafts and mazes. Cincinnati Zoo also puts on HallZOOween, complete with Halloween-themed enrichment activities for the animals, trick-or-treating for the kiddos and a magical train ride through the grounds. And at night, the zoo lights up for the new Jack O’Lantern Glow, featuring thousands of creative, hand-carved pumpkins and displays. Newport Aquarium also offers some pumpkin-themed fun with its Underwater Pumpkin Glow, a one-of-a-kind, under-the-sea adventure with larger-than-life sculptures of some of the aquarium’s animals reimagined as pumpkins.
For Halloween night needs like costumes, Cincinnati is home to Cappel’s, a family-owned shop that’s been fulfilling Cincinnatians’ costume needs for more than 75 years. There’s also Talk of the Town in Reading, which offers a variety of vintage clothing, accessories and costumes and Newport’s Costume Gallery, which is a year-round professional costume shop for theaters but also offers goods for Halloween. And while you should hand out the traditional prepackaged candy like Skittles and Kit Kats to trick-or-treaters, be sure to get yourself the good stuff at local businesses like Aglamesis, Minges, Murray Bros Old Time Store and Ruby’s Chocolates.
You can read the full report on wallethub.com.
