The Trick-or-Treater Map

Here's a map of how all U.S. metros stack up on my Trick-or-Treater Index, courtesy of my colleague Zara Matheson. It expands the top 20 list I posted yesterday to cover all metro regions across the United States.

With Halloween just around the corner, you probably don't have time to move to a different city to improve your (or your kids') candy haul. But you may be lucky to already live in one of the best cities for trick-or-treating all ready. We crunched the numbers to come up with a list of the best cities to be when the costumes come out.

Our Trick-or-Treater Index is based on five criteria. A good place for trick-or-treating needs lots of kids, so we used the percentage of children aged 5 to 14. The haul is likely to be better where people have more money, so we included the median household income. It's easier to canvass neighborhoods that are walkable so we measured as the share of people who walk to work--and also those that have a greater density of population. And then there's that hard-to-miss Halloween spirit. The most over-the-top costumes and celebrations often occur in artistic neighborhoods, so we included the fraction of artists, designers, and other cultural creatives. The Trick-or Treater Index covers all 300 plus U.S. metros and includes both their core cities and suburbs.