Most are getting into the Halloween spirit, but the holiday has not fully rebounded post-pandemic

October 28, 2025

Halloween celebrations seem to be starting earlier and earlier every year. Yet the share of Americans planning to take part this year remains about the same as in 2021, during the pandemic. Celebrations dropped after the beginning of the pandemic. Three in 4 adults expected to enjoy Halloween in 2019 compared with 2 in 3 in 2021 and this year. Parents and adults under the age of 45 are most likely to turn out for the spookiest day of the year.

Sixty-seven percent of adults say they plan to celebrate in some way now, similar to the 64% who said the same in October 2021. In an October 2019 AP-NORC Poll, 75% of Americans had Halloween plans.

This year, as in previous years, the most popular activities include displaying Halloween decorations, passing out candy to trick or treaters, and watching scary movies, with around a third of the public planning on doing each. Around 20% say they will carve pumpkins, take children trick or treating, attend Halloween parties, or dress themselves or their children in costumes. Few anticipate dressing up pets in costumes or passing out healthy snacks to children trick or treating.

Parents and guardians of children under the age of 18 are more likely than those without kids to celebrate Halloween (83% vs. 62%), especially when it comes to wearing or dressing up children in costumes, decorating homes, taking children trick or treating, and carving pumpkins. Similar shares of parents and adults without young children plan to attend parties, pass out candy and healthy snacks, dress up pets, and watch scary movies.

Adults under the age of 45 celebrate the fall holiday more often than older adults (76% vs. 60%).

Gen Z adults (ages 18-29) are more inclined than those 45 and older to attend Halloween parties, carve pumpkins, wear costumes, or watch scary movies.

Millennials (ages 30-44) are more likely than any other generation to dress up their kids, take them trick or treating, or decorate their homes. They also outpace adults 45 years or older in watching scary movies and wearing costumes.

Boomers and the Silent Generation (age 60 and older) are least likely to carve pumpkins, take children trick or treating, dress them up in costumes, or watch scary movies. They also attend Halloween parties and dress pets up in costumes at lower rates than Millennials or Gen Z adults.

Each generation is equally likely to pass out candy or healthy snacks.

The nationwide poll was conducted October 9-13, 2025 using the AmeriSpeak® Panel, the probability-based panel of NORC at the University of Chicago. Online and telephone interviews using landlines and cell phones were conducted with 1,289 adults. The overall margin of sampling error is +/- 3.8 percentage points. Hispanic adults were sampled at a higher rate than their proportion of the population for reasons of analysis. The overall margin of sampling error for the 378 interviews completed with Hispanic respondents is +/- 6.9 percentage points.