Trick Or Treat! Aurora, Elgin Rank in Top 10 Cities Nationwide
If you like to trick-or-treat, Kane County is the place to be.
Kane County’s two largest communities, Aurora and Elgin, have placed in the top 10 nationwide places to trick-or-treat, according to the third-annual study by SmartAsset, which based its findings on metrics including crime rates, average precipitation on Halloween and housing density.
Aurora was the No. 4-ranked best place to trick-or-treat and Elgin was No. 9 in the nation.
Aurora dropped one spot in last year’s analysis. The City of Lights is generally a safe place to trick-or-treat, according to SmartAsset’s data. Aurora had a top 25 percent lowest violent crime rate and the seventh-lowest property crime rate in the study.
The city also stuck out as a relatively housing-dense place to trick-or-treat.
“That means running from house to house and filling up your bucket with candy will be a breeze,” SmartAsset’s Kara Gibson said.
Elgin fell two spots from last year. Many of its scores were similar, but there was a slight uptick in home value and a slight increase in violent crimes. Elgin has the lowest property crime rate in the study.
“Plus, the average temperature around Halloween is 56 degrees Fahrenheit, which is a nice, crisp temperature for trick-or-treating,” Gibson said.
The No. 1 trick-or-treating city in the U.S. is Nampa, ID. The community took the top spot in all three years of the contest.
Key Findings
- Midwest is best – Seven of the top 10 cities to trick-or-treat are in the Midwest. This area is full of single-family homes meaning plenty of chances to trick-or-treat.
- Spooky Wisconsin – If you live in Wisconsin, odds are you are privy to a great trick-or-treating experience. Three of the 10 best places to trick or treat are in the Badger State.
- Skip Florida – Thanks to high chances of rain and high average temperatures, Florida cities tend to rank low. West Palm Beach, Miami Beach and Tallahassee occupy the three bottom spots in this study.
Data and Methodology
In order to find the best places to trick-or-treat, SmartAsset looked at data on 258 cities, and evaluated them according to seven factors:
- Single-family housing density. This is the number of single-family houses per square mile. Data comes from the Census Bureau’s 2015 1-Year American Community Survey.
- Percent of residents aged 14 or younger. Data comes from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 1-Year American Community Survey.
- Median home value. Data comes from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 1-Year American Community Survey.
- Violent crime rate. This is the number of violent crimes per 100,000 residents. Data comes from the FBI’s 2015 and 2014 Uniform Crime Reporting database as well as local police departments’ websites.
- Property crime rate. This is the number of violent crimes per 100,000 residents. Data comes from the FBI’s 2015 and 2014 Uniform Crime Reporting database as well as local police departments’ websites.
- Precipitation probability. This is the chance it rains 0.5 inches or snows 0.1 inches on Halloween. Data comes from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- Average temperature. This is the average maximum temperature on Oct. 31. SmartAsset compared the average maximum temperature to 60 degrees Fahrenheit (what SA decided was the ideal trick-or-treating temperature). Data comes from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Read More
OCT. 29 UPDATE: Complete List of 2017 Halloween Trick-Or-Treat Hours in Kane County, IL
SOURCE: SmartAsset news release, website
