Well, good gourd, it’s Fall, y’all. In 2024, Finder estimates that 145 million Americans (roughly 43% of the population) plan to have a gourd ole’ time buying a pumpkin to make homemade jack-o-lanterns, which is down from the 46% (then 154 million people) in 2023 who said they’d be making jack-o-lanterns.
The good news for consumers is that the cost of a pumpkin is down, with prices lower than the last several years. In 2024, the cost of the average pumpkin is projected to be around $5.26 come Halloween, which is down from last year’s projection of $5.47. With fewer Americans planning to carve out some time in their schedules for jack-o-lanterns this year and the decreased cost of a pumpkin, Americans are projected to spend approximately $762.8 million on pumpkins in 2024. This decrease is a difference of about $80 million (10%) from the $843.6 million just a year ago.
Here’s how the total adds up:
Time to get spooky
Overall, Halloween 2024 spending is expected to be down, according to the National Retail Federation. Americans are forecast to spend $11.6 billion on All Saints’ Day in 2024, which is down from the record-breaking $12.2 billion they spent in 2023.
As inflation puts a squeeze on most Americans’ budgets, it makes the holidays even more challenging than usual. To afford extra food, decorations and party clothes, there are easy ways to save money and make the most of your everyday purchases.
One is spending and earning cash back on credit cards that offer the biggest rewards. Another tip is buying like-new items on online thrift shops for a fraction of retail prices, according to Finder’s Money Expert, Laura Adams, MBA.
The National Retail Federation (NRF) also tacks popular costumes, with dressing like a witch the most popular choice for adults in 2024, Spiderman for kids and a pumpkin for pets — all three of which being the most popular choice in each category since 2017.
Americans are expected to drop $3.8 billion on costumes in 2024, according to the NRF, with $1.8 billion spent on adult costumes, $1.3 billion for kids and $0.7 billion on pets.
The average price of a pumpkin during the fall 2024 season was calculated using the historical average advertised retail price per pumpkin recorded each week from 2016–2023 and the weekly advertised retail price per pumpkin reported so far in 2024. From 2016-2023, pumpkins were sold for an average of 9 weeks according to the United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service. We calculated the percentage difference between the average price by each week of sales and the overall average price each year to forecast the price of a pumpkin for this year. Average prices were weighted by the number of stores.
The total amount spent on carving pumpkins this Halloween was calculated using the current US population, the percentage of Americans expected to carve pumpkins this Halloween, and the projected average price of a pumpkin during the fall 2024 pumpkin season.
Note on 2021 prices: Our initial projected estimate of $4.84 for the cost of a pumpkin in fall 2020 was off by $0.0. USDA data shows that the actual average weighted cost during 2020 was $4.06 when weighted by the average price and the number of stores from 8/28/2020 to 10/30/2020.
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Richard Laycock is Finder’s NYC-based lead editor & insights editor, spending the last decade data diving, writing and editing articles about all things personal finance. His musings can be found across the web including on NASDAQ, MoneyMag, Yahoo Finance and Travel Weekly. Richard studied Media at Macquarie University, including a semester abroad at The Missouri School of Journalism (MIZZOU). See full bio
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