Before you write off your street for Halloween, it might be worth asking who’s actually handing out candy.
A new Rocket survey found that 51% of parents take their young children trick-or-treating on their own street, even though 86% say their neighborhood would be a great place for it.
The hesitation? Among families with children 12 and younger, 52% assume there won’t be enough participating houses to make the trip worthwhile.
There’s a mismatch on the candy-giving side, too. Rocket says nearly four in 10 households skipped handing out candy last year because they didn’t expect visitors. Among those who skipped it, 39% said they would participate if they knew their neighbors were joining in.
That is not proof that a group text will fill your porch. But asking neighbors who’s participating is a practical way to replace some guessing with an actual plan before October 31. Share your own plans, too, instead of assuming everyone already knows.
One important limit: Rocket describes an online survey of 1,500 census-representative Americans overall. Its release does not give field dates or the sizes of the parent and other subgroups. These are reported survey responses, not a count of children on every street.
