This Halloween, the scares aren’t limited to the haunted house. Rising prices for everything from groceries to gasoline are causing many consumers to cut back on spending.
“I walk to save a little money,” said Lakisha Reardon, a paralegal. “I bring my own lunch.”
Reardon said she has especially seen her electric bill increase this year. She said she was paying $150 more every month.
“I’m ready to invest in candles,” she said.
But one thing she won’t give up? Halloween candy.
Average prices for gum and candy have climbed 8.1% over the past year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Despite higher prices, Americans are still buying candy.
“I remember being little and being so excited to get Reese’s Cups,” said Abby Mynatt, a student who lives in Knoxville, Tennessee. “I want to give this to other kids.”
Mynatt, 21, said she usually spends about $50 on Halloween candy. She hopes to shell out a little more money this year despite financial pressures.
“I definitely think there are things a little tighter with my budget right now,” she said. “But I always think that some things, even small pleasures, are always worth it.”
The price of non-chocolate candies averaged $3.31 this year, up 1.8% from last year, according to PwC. But Halloween chocolate prices jumped 15.5%, to an average of $5.67 per package.
Industry experts attribute rising chocolate prices in part to the cocoa shock of recent years.
Extreme weather conditions in major cocoa-producing countries like Ivory Coast and Ghana have caused global cocoa prices to skyrocket – they quadrupled between January 2023 and January 2025, according to data from the International Monetary Fund.
“Because chocolatiers buy cocoa months, sometimes up to two years in advance, buyers are paying for this increase now,” said Ali Furman, consumer markets sector leader at PwC. “Cocoa prices have since fallen by about half, but the lower costs are slow to reach shelves and will not appear on shelves this Halloween season.”
Market research firm NIQ found a more moderate price increase, with chocolate overall up 9.4% from last year, but Halloween-specific chocolate only up 1.7%.
Analysts say this year’s tariffs aren’t helping either. In July, the United States imposed tariffs of 10 to 12.5 percent on 60 trading partners.
“Chocolate comes from somewhere else, so the tariffs added to it have certainly increased the costs that manufacturers feel as well,” said Chris Costagli, head of food and non-alcoholic beverage analysis at NIQ.
Still, the National Retail Federation projects that Halloween spending will reach $13.5 billion this season, with 96% of Halloween shoppers expecting to buy candy.
It’s part of a broader trend this year in which consumers are turning to small luxuries like makeup and movie tickets as an antidote to economic gloom.
Much of this gloom comes from concerns about inflation and the rising cost of living. Consumer prices jumped 3.4% over the last year, largely due to rising energy costs, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
With wages increasing by only 3% over the same period, wages are not keeping up with prices.
This has led many people to forgo larger purchases and reduce their consumption slightly each day.
Leonard Smith plans to buy Halloween candy this year, but says he might cut back on his spending.
“I don’t want to spend so much money because I need the money for something other than candy,” said Smith, 36, who lives in Delaware.
But he has a saving strategy: Smith buys candy after Halloween, when many stores drop prices.
Ari Monahan, a nanny who describes herself as “like a Disney adult, but for Halloween,” said she could buy candy a little cheaper, but she still wants to spoil the children in her New York neighborhood.
“I want to be the good house,” she said. “There aren’t a lot of kids in my area, so I want to give them a little prize for coming. »
Monahan, 30, also buys herself small treats. “Dark chocolate, lots of coffees, anything pumpkin spiced,” she said.
“If it makes me smile and I have some money, I will pay for it because everything is so dark right now,” she added. “A pair of socks with dachshunds on them, I’m like, ‘You know what? I can do that. I could rock it today.'”
Monahan says rising prices are cutting into her salary significantly, and she fears she’ll never be able to buy a house.
Home prices are near record highs and mortgage rates have soared over the course of the war with Iran – with the 30-year fixed rate topping 7.6% earlier this month, a near three-year high. It’s a double whammy that puts a key pillar of the American dream even further out of reach for many people.
And yet, in an economy where big things can seem far away, there are always little treats to be had.
“I’ve been in a real ‘buy yourself some treats’ mentality,” Monahan said. “I always buy too many things for my dog. I guess I didn’t buy another dog. That’s a savings, isn’t it?”
Gn bussni
