Seattle is in the midst of a trick-or-treating crisis
Oct 13, 2015, 3:51 PM | Updated: Oct 14, 2015, 8:45 am
Seattle has consistently fallen on the list of best trick-or-treating cities in the nation. It is at risk of falling off the list entirely. (AP)
(AP)
In five years, Seattle has gone from the best place to trick-or-treat in the nation to near the bottom of Zillow’s Top 20 list. If the trend continues, Seattle may not make the list at all next year.
Real estate website Zillow crunches a few numbers each year to analyze the best trick-or-treat territories in the nation.
Seattle comes in at No. 18 this year. That’s a 10 point drop from 2014 when it ranked eighth. In 2013, Seattle ranked fifth in the country. In 2012, and 2011, Seattle was No. 4. And in 2010, Seattle was No. 1 in the nation.
The reason Seattle took such a dramatic hit in 2015, according to Zillow Spokesperson Jordyn Lee, is because the company added a new metric that it didn’t use in past years — the number of kids in a city under the age of 15. Compared to other cities, Seattle has less families and kids under the ages of 15 living in town. Neighboring communities, the spokesperson notes, such as Kirkland or Redmond, have a much higher share of kids.
Keep in mind that while Seattle is at the bottom of the top 20, it still ranks in the top 20 out of all cities in the country. Its closest Northwest neighbor that made the list in 2015 is Portland, ranked at 16.
Zillow also names the best neighborhoods for quality of trick-or-treating. It has yet to release that list, but if previous years are any indication, Seattle’s kids should be looking to Loyal Heights, Phinney Ridge, and Wallingford for the best spots. All three have consistently made the top five Seattle neighborhoods for trick-or-treating over the past few years.
To develop their list, Zillow took into account a few factors. Aside from measuring the population of kids under the age of 15, it also looked at housing density — how far apart homes are from each other — therefore maximizing the number of houses a kid can hit up in one night. Zillow looked at crime rates as a measure of safety while out on the street. And finally, it took into account home values in each city because, as any devoted trick-or-treater knows, those bigger homes generally hand out more high-end candy.
California dominated the list with San Francisco claiming the no. 1 title. San Jose came in second, and Los Angeles came in third. Specifically, San Francisco’s Presidio Heights neighborhood is the best trick-or-treating region in all of the United States.
