For a lot of kids, Halloween is just as important as the winter holidays. After all, there are countless pounds of sweets to be had, absolutely free. While most parents aren’t going to pick up and leave based on the best places to trick-or-treat, some kids are lucky enough to already live in one of America’s trick-or-treat capitals.
To find them, The Daily Beast looked at more than 150 metropolitan areas, accounting for the number of kids up to age 14 as a percentage of the total population, using Census data; housing density—because the more homes, the less ground kids have to cover—also using Census data; violent crime per 100,000 people, as a measure of each area’s overall safety, using FBI data; and each area’s score on the most recent Gallup Well-Being Index, because citizens who are happy and healthy are more likely to open their homes, and their candy bags.
And because Hurricane Sandy is on the nation’s collective mind, and because no one wants to trick-or-treat while soggy and cold, we ranked the top 50 out of our initial pool of metros and then took into account the average temperature in October and the average precipitation in October, to come up with our final 13, with data from Weatherbase.
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13. Washington, D.C.
Kids: 19.8 percent of pop.Housing density: 395.4 units per sq. mileViolent crime: 374.9 per 100,000Well-being rank: 12thAverage October temp.: 60 degreesAverage October precip.: 3 inches
12. Salt Lake City, UT
Kids: 24.9 percent of pop.Housing density: 42.9 units per sq. mileViolent crime: 303.8 per 100,000Well-being rank: 28thAverage October temp.: 53 degreesAverage October precip.: 1.3 inches
11. Appleton, WI
Kids: 20.9 percent of pop.Housing density: 97.1 units per sq. mileViolent crime: 141.6 per 100,000Well-being rank: 10thAverage October temp.: 49 degreesAverage October precip.: 2.2 inches
10. McAllen, TX
Kids: 29.1 percent of pop.Housing density: 158.1 units per sq. mileViolent crime: 295.4 per 100,000Well-being rank: 164thAverage October temp.: 76 degreesAverage October precip.: 2.4 inches
9. San Jose, CA
Kids: 20.2 percent of pop.Housing density: 242.6 units per sq. mileViolent crime: 256.1 per 100,000Well-being rank: 8thAverage October temp.: 63 degreesAverage October precip.: 0.9 inches
8. San Francisco
Kids: 17.6 percent of pop.Housing density: 705.1 units per sq. mileViolent crime: 508.3 per 100,000Well-being rank: 16thAverage October temp.: 62 degreesAverage October precip.: 1.1 inches
7. Raleigh-Cary, NC
Kids: 22 percent of pop.Housing density: 220 units per sq. mileViolent crime: 243.3 per 100,000Well-being rank: 27thAverage October temp.: 60 degreesAverage October precip.: 3 inches
6. Lancaster, PA
Kids: 20.4 percent of pop.Housing density: 215 units per sq. mileViolent crime: 181.5 per 100,000Well-being rank: 1stAverage October temp.: 54 degreesAverage October precip.: 3.2 inches
5. Bridgeport, CT
Kids: 20.2 percent of pop.Housing density: 578.1 units per sq. mileViolent crime: 293.6 per 100,000Well-being rank: 60thAverage October temp.: 56 degreesAverage October precip.: 3.2 inches
4. New York
Kids: 18.7 percent of pop.Housing density: 1,125.7 units per sq. mileViolent crime: 406 per 100,000Well-being rank: 124thAverage October temp.: 58 degreesAverage October precip.: 3.4 inches
3. Ogden, UT
Kids: 27.6 percent of total pop.Housing density: 125.8 units per sq. mileViolent crime: 148.3 per 100,000Well-being rank: 32ndAverage October temp.: 52 degreesAverage October precip.: 1.7 inches
2. Los Angeles
Kids: 19.9 percent of total pop.Housing density: 926.9 units per sq. mileViolent crime: 405.4 per 100,000Well-being rank: 63rdAverage October temp.: 68 degreesAverage October precip.: .5 inches
1. Provo, UT
Kids: 30.1 percent of total pop.Housing density: 28.1 units per sq. mileViolent crime: 74.1 per 100,000Well-being rank: 4thAverage October temp.: 53 degreesAverage October precip.: 1.2 inches
