When I was a kid, celebrating Halloween was a pretty simple affair. About a week before the big day, my mom would ask me what I wanted to be. If we could make the costume using things we had around the house, that’s what we did. Otherwise, we’d head to the local store and buy one of those cheap, one-piece plastic costumes that came with a flimsy mask held on by an elastic string.
Those days are long gone. Retailers have successfully transformed what was once a one-night holiday into an entire shopping season. In 2026, Americans are expected to spend approximately $13.5 billion on costumes, decorations, candy, and other Halloween merchandise, nearly double what they spent a decade ago.
All that spending provides a significant boost to the economy, particularly the retail industry. One of the most visible examples is Spirit Halloween, which operates 10 stores here in the metro and more than 1,550 stores across North America generating upwards of 52,000 seasonal jobs.
Surprisingly, children’s costumes aren’t even the biggest source of this spending. Americans are expected to spend more on costumes for adults than for children this year. And believe it or not, nearly $1 billion will be spent dressing up our pets.
Candy is another enormous part of the Halloween economy, with Americans expected to spend approximately $4.1 billion on sweet treats this year. Hershey and Mars continue to dominate the American candy industry. Chocolate remains the Halloween candy of choice with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups consistently ranking as America’s favorite candy, with brands such as M&M’s, Snickers, and Skittles also popular choices.
Halloween is also big business for American farmers. In addition to growing many of the ingredients used in candy manufacturing, farmers produced approximately 1.47 billion pounds of pumpkins in 2025, according to the USDA.
But for many farmers, the real money isn’t necessarily in selling pumpkins. It’s in selling the experience of picking them out. By inviting families onto their farms, charging admission, offering hayrides, building corn mazes, and selling food, they’ve transformed ordinary pumpkin patches into miniature amusement parks that generate revenue from an entire afternoon of family entertainment.
And speaking of Halloween entertainment, haunted houses and theme parks have also turned our willingness to be frightened into big business. According to industry estimates, 13% of American adults have visited or plan to visit a haunted house this fall, representing roughly 35 million people. Locally, Worlds of Fun has capitalized on the trend with its popular Halloween Haunt. What was once a relatively slow season for the park has become a major revenue opportunity. Apparently, Americans are increasingly willing to pay good money to have someone scare them half to death.
I’m not sure if all this additional spending has made Halloween any more fun than it was when I was a kid, but businesses have certainly found a way to make those traditions way more expensive. Perhaps the scariest thing about Halloween today isn’t the ghosts or the goblins, but how much we’re now willing to spend celebrating it.