Halloween became one of my favorite holidays — but only until after I had kids.<\/p>
The whole season starts as soon as the candy corn hits the shelves (so…September) and every weekend<\/a> is full of spirited fun as you work your way up to the big night. And between attending fall festivals, picking pumpkins, planning costumes and trick-or-treating, Halloween is more than just a night<\/a>: it’s a season.<\/p> So, when ranking the best cities, we at Care.com wanted to focus on what Halloween spirit is to families: a fun season and a safe night. <\/p> In order to come up with the best (and worst) cities for families <\/a>this Halloween, we took a look at the top 100 metro areas* and analyzed:<\/p> We then weighted this data with a “Halloween Spirit” score, which was comprised of the number of haunted houses, pumpkin patches, fall festivals, etc., that are available in those areas. (See our full methodology below.)<\/p> Topping our list are Los Angeles, New York City and Chicago. At the bottom are Albany, NY, Birmingham, AL, and the worst city for Halloween this year…Spokane, WA. <\/p> For tips on creating your own Halloween fun — including DIY costumes, safety tips, recipes and crafts — go to Care.com\/Halloween<\/a>!<\/p> Note: The values below can range from 0 to 500, with 0 being the worst score and 500 being the best. On each score, the average across all cities is 250, and every 100 points above or below represents one standard deviation from the mean.<\/em><\/p>Halloween Index From Best to Worst by Metro<\/strong><\/h2>