You Won’t Believe How Much Americans Spend For Halloween Every Year

Everyone knows that Christmas is the holiday that has Americans spending so much money each and every single year. The decorations and parties and presents oftentimes have people wondering how they will be able to pay their bills. While it doesn’t even come close to equaling what is spent for Christmas, many people fail to realize that Americans will likely spend more than $7 billion for Halloween this year.

Thanks to costumes, candy, haunted houses, horror movies, and so much more being done for the spooky season, Halloween is indeed a multi-billion dollar holiday.

According to the OC Register, it is expected that the Halloween industry will indeed be worth more than $7 billion in 2015. Last year, it came in just under that mark with around $6.86 billion being spent by Americans, but it’s expected to cross the threshold this year.

Rick West is a producer for the annual Scare L.A. convention which is held in August, and he knows that the industry is getting bigger all the time. In just three years, attendance has jumped up from 3,000 to 10,000 participants.

“The growth in the haunt industry has been explosive.”

There are so many different festivals and events around the country that add to the huge amount of money spent during the Halloween season. Knott’s Berry Farm or as it’s known at this time of year, Knott’s Scary Farm, has become a gigantic event that often brings in 25 percent of the company’s yearly revenue.

Universal Studios has Halloween Horror Nights on both the east and west coasts. Disney is doing the same with Halloween parties at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World for multiple nights throughout most of September and all of October.

The CS Monitor brought together some interesting statistics from 2014 that were really quite staggering when you sit and think about them. At some point in time during the Halloween season, it appears as almost all Americans end up spending something.

67.4 Percent – Percentage of Americans buying costumes

That was a record high for the 11 years that the National Retail Federation had been tracking such a statistic. It’s possible it will rise in 2015 and it’s getting awfully close to one-third of Americans actually buying a costume for Halloween.

3 to 2 – Ratio of adult costumes to children’s costumes

Halloween really isn’t just seen as a children’s holiday anymore. There are adult parties and events and gatherings and haunted houses. Let’s not forget that a lot of parents like to buy costumes to wear while their kids are going around trick-or-treating.

One – Number of superheroes in the top 5 pet costumes

In 2013, Superman landed in the top 5 pet costumes along with hot dogs, cats, devils, and pumpkins. While that is an interesting enough statistic in itself, it simply adds to the extreme amount of money that is being spent by Americans for Halloween.

$2.2 Billion – Amount spent by Americans on Halloween candy

Here is the big spending item and it is absolutely absurd when you actually realize that it is indeed billion and not million. There is trick-or-treating in neighborhoods around the country along with parties, events, and those that simply love the candy only released at Halloween and want to eat it on their own…candy corn.

With all being spent on physical items for Halloween, we can’t forget the money spent on advertising as well. Haunted houses and special events need to have people know about what’s going on and commercials for televised events such as the “13 Nights of Halloween” on ABC Family add up as well.

Halloween is on the way, but there’s still over a month until the actual day itself arrives. Costumes, haunted houses, horror movies, and especially candy will add to the more than $7 billion that is expected to be spent by Americans in 2015, and it’s only going to keep growing.

[Image via Getty Images – Peter Madiarmid/Frederic J. Brown/Universal Studios]