Las Vegas area tops best places to celebrate Halloween list

Daniel de Visé
·2 min read

Story at a glance

  • The ranking sorted 146 cities on 10 rigorous Hallow-friendly metrics.

  • Halloween candy will cost 30 percent more this year, after factoring in inflation and supply-chain concerns in the fun-size candy industry.

Trick-or-treating up and down the Strip might not strike parents as the most family-friendly approach to Halloween. But the experts have spoken.

North Las Vegas and environs rank first, second and sixth on an annual list of Best Places to Celebrate Halloween, as tabulated by the financial technology firm SmartAsset.

The ranking sorted 146 cities on 10 rigorous Hallow-friendly metrics, including violent crime (cue the “Halloween” soundtrack), daily COVID cases, measures of warm and dry weather (of which there is plenty in Vegas), and concentration of candy stores.

Follow the math to its logical conclusions and you end up in the Mojave Desert.

And you may want to dress lightly beneath the costume. Topping the list: North Las Vegas, a Sin City suburb where the average October high reaches 101. No. 2 is Henderson, Nev., which is another Vegas suburb and known for supplying magnesium in World War II.

Several other warm, dry cities round out the Top 10: Gilbert, Peoria and Chandler, Ariz., all suburbs of Phoenix; Chula Vista, Calif., a suburb of San Diego; Fontana and Moreno Valley, Calif., east of L.A.; Brownsville, Texas, on the Mexico border; and Las Vegas itself.

The bad news is that Halloween candy will cost 30 percent more this year, after factoring in inflation and supply-chain concerns in the fun-size candy industry. Full-tilt decorations will set a homeowner back $100, up 16 percent from five years ago, according to the National Retail Federation.

Can’t afford a flight to Vegas? Check out Spooky Woods in Garrett Park, that tiny suburb near Strathmore that makes an annual effort to own Halloween.

Or leave the kids at home and join the Nightmare on M Street bar crawl in Washington, D.C.

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