Seattle’s best trick or treat neighborhoods

Trick-or-treating: the one day of the year when it’s completely normal for hoards of complete strangers to come knocking at your door demanding a snack. According to Zillow, Seattle is a great place to trick or treat. The real estate and rental website ranked us eighth in the nation.

“We want to look at four factors,” said Zillow’s senior economist, Skylar Olsen. “As a trick-or-treater, you want to be able to hit a lot of homes so we want to make sure that area has a high population density. Not only that, but you want to hit those wealthy, large homes that are going to give out those real luxe candy bars. Then, of course, we’re going to make sure you have a high walking score. You gotta be safe so we’re going to make sure there are low crime rates in those areas.”

Skylar shared Seattle’s best candy acquiring neighborhoods, “Ranking in at number one, we have Phinney Ridge. At number two, Loyal Heights. Down to Wallingford, Queen Anne and Roosevelt.”

Zillow only looked at major cities, so Mercer Island didn’t make the cut. But a neighborhood called The Lakes is a very, very popular place for trick-or-treaters. Caitlin Wallis, 25, said it’s been mobbed since she was a kid.

“There are about 500 to a thousand kids who go trick-or-treating there every year. The entire neighborhood is closed off. The police come and you can’t drive through,” said Caitlin. “We sit with our front door wide open, don’t move from that spot the entire time because the kids are just coming up to the door constantly, trick-or-treating for candy.”

It’s the perfect storm for trick-or-treaters: These are million dollar homes, it’s safe, flat and homeowners get into the spirit, decorating and serving hot apple cider to the adults.

“I think every kid from Mercer Island comes,” Caitlin said. “Kids from off Mercer Island have now heard about The Lakes as a good place to go trick-or-treating so I think more kids from off-island are coming. I think it was last year there was a bus that came and dropped off kids from another school or something. They are busing kids to The Lakes to go trick-or-treating.”

After decades of handing out candy to a never-ending stream of kids, Caitlin’s parents have thrown in the towel. They usually skip town on Halloween. But Caitlin wanted to keep up the tradition, so her parents buy $200 worth of mini candy bars and she mans the door.

“I remember when I was trick-or-treating and there would be houses with their lights turned off. I’d be really sad,” said Caitlin. “I feel like it’s part of living in The Lakes, that you are there on Halloween handing out candy.”

Being a childless adult, I hadn’t gone trick-or-treating in over a decade until a couple years ago when I went with a friend’s kid and discovered its true grown-up charm: voyeurism.

Skylar said you can use the Zillow app to get estimates on all of the homes you pass on your route.

“You know, you want to look up your boss’s Zestimate. How expensive is their home? You want to look up your parents and your friends, you want to know that number. Keep that in mind when you’re trick-or-treating, that as you’re walking along the neighborhoods you can surreptitiously check that Zestimate, be nosy and look into those homes.”

Whether you’re a creepy real estate voyeur or you just want your kids to score you some good candy, I hope you find somewhere rich, safe, dense and walkable this Halloween.