Spooky Cities Ranking

It’s one again the spookiest time of year, and FlixBus has uncovered the spookiest destination of them all! Halloween is the perfect occasion for thrill-seeking travelers to explore some of the eeriest locations across the country. From notoriously spooky towns like Salem, Massachusetts, to urban sprawls such New York City, ghost hunters and myth busters alike have plenty of opportunities to for chilling experiences in some of the most spine-chilling places anywhere in the world.

We have analyzed 100 cities across the US, mapping out haunted houses, spooky tours and Halloween parades in order to compile the Spookiest Cities in the US Ranking 2018. The cities with the most spooky sites per capita make the list.

We’ve pulled together the spookiest cities ranking to give our customers the chance to plan their Halloween with experience at the forefront. We know holidays are often a time for adventure, new experiences, and to give yourself a thrill: at FlixBus, that’s what we’re all about,” said Pierre Gourdain, Managing Director of FlixBus USA. “We’ve ranked a range of exciting destinations along our usual routes to make your planning - and your journey - as smooth yet thrilling as possible this Halloween season.

Pierre Gourdain

Managing Director of FlixBus USA

The infographic below lists the Top 10 Spookiest Cities in the US, followed by the full data set of the top 100 cities.

Infographic (Top 100 Spookiest Cities in the US)

POSITION	CITY	STATE	HAUNTED PLACES	SPOOKY TOURS	HALLOWEEN PARADES
1	Gettysburg	Pennsylvania	131.23	0.00	13.12
2	Saint Augustine	Florida	70.03	49.02	7.00
3	Salem	Massachussetts	48.38	19.35	4.84
4	Savannah	Georgia	6.15	6.15	0.68
5	Des Moines	Iowa	4.60	4.14	0.92
6	Cincinnati	Ohio	4.31	3.32	1.33
7	Norfolk	Virginia	2.45	4.09	2.04
8	Chesapeake	Virginia	1.66	4.58	1.25
9	Jersey City	New Jersey	3.69	0.00	3.69
10	Richmond	Virginia	5.73	0.44	0.88
11	Charleston	South California	5.19	0.00	1.48
12	Pittsburgh	Pennsylvania	4.63	0.66	0.66
13	New Orleans	Louisiana	1.53	3.81	0.25
14	Cleveland	Ohio	2.08	2.59	0.78
15	Virginia Beach	Virginia	1.55	3.55	0.22
16	Fort Wayne	Indiana	4.51	0.75	0.00
17	Anchorage	Alaska	3.40	1.36	0.34
18	Toledo	Ohio	1.09	2.17	1.81
19	Winston–Salem	North Carolina	4.09	0.00	0.82
20	Fremont	California	4.26	0.00	0.43
21	Orlando	Florida	3.21	1.07	0.36
22	Aurora	Colorado	3.00	1.64	0.00
23	Hialeah	Florida	4.17	0.42	0.00
24	Riverside	California	2.44	1.53	0.31
25	Minneapolis	Minnesota	1.89	1.66	0.71
26	Buffalo	New York	3.87	0.00	0.39
27	Plano	Texas	3.49	0.70	0.00
28	St. Petersburg	Florida	3.04	0.38	0.76
29	North Las Vegas	Nevada	2.47	0.41	1.23
30	Lexington	Kentucky	1.24	1.55	1.24
31	Honolulu	Hawaii	2.85	0.86	0.29
32	Saint Paul	Minnesota	1.96	1.63	0.33
33	Atlanta	Georgia	1.44	2.06	0.41
34	Tampa	Florida	2.85	0.78	0.26
35	Portland	Oregon	2.62	0.77	0.31
36	Memphis	Tennessee	2.91	0.46	0.31
37	Kansas City	Missouri	1.43	1.43	0.61
38	Washington	Dictrict Columbia	1.59	1.15	0.72
39	Long Beach	California	1.92	1.07	0.43
40	Wichita	Kansas	2.82	0.26	0.26
41	Arlington	Texas	3.03	0.00	0.25
42	Las Vegas	Nevada	2.18	0.47	0.62
43	Sacramento	California	2.19	0.40	0.60
44	Seattle	Washington	2.35	0.41	0.41
45	Madison	Wisconsin	1.57	1.18	0.39
46	Anaheim	California	2.55	0.28	0.28
47	San Francisco	California	1.92	0.57	0.45
48	St. Louis	Missouri	2.59	0.00	0.32
49	Irving	Texas	1.25	1.66	0.00
50	Louisville	Kentucky	2.74	0.00	0.16
51	Reno	Nevada	1.21	0.00	1.61
52	Tucson	Arizona	1.87	0.75	0.19
53	Nashville	Tennessee	1.35	1.05	0.30
54	Miami	Florida	1.29	0.43	0.86
55	Omaha	Nebraska	2.14	0.21	0.21
56	Milwaukee	Wisconsin	1.51	0.34	0.67
57	Tulsa	Oklahoma	1.24	0.25	1.00
58	Baltimore	Maryland	1.47	0.65	0.33
59	Lubbock	Texas	1.58	0.00	0.79
60	Laredo	Texas	1.92	0.38	0.00
61	Jacksonville	Florida	2.02	0.00	0.22
62	Detroit	Michigan	1.78	0.15	0.30
63	Oklahoma City	Oklahoma	0.78	1.09	0.31
64	Columbus	Ohio	1.48	0.23	0.45
65	Corpus Christi	Texas	1.23	0.31	0.61
66	Garland	Texas	0.84	1.26	0.00
67	Fresno	California	1.90	0.00	0.19
68	Boston	Massachussetts	0.73	0.88	0.44
69	Glendale	Arizona	1.22	0.00	0.81
70	Mesa	Arizona	1.01	0.81	0.20
71	Austin	Texas	1.26	0.63	0.11
72	Stockton	California	0.32	1.29	0.32
73	Chula Vista	California	0.00	0.00	1.85
74	Denver	Colorado	0.71	0.57	0.57
75	Charlotte	North Carolina	0.93	0.23	0.58
76	San Antonio	Texas	1.32	0.33	0.07
77	Albuquerque	New Mexico	0.72	0.18	0.72
78	Indianapolis	Indiana	1.04	0.12	0.35
79	San Diego	California	0.92	0.42	0.07
80	Houston	Texas	0.99	0.26	0.09
81	Colorado Springs	Colorado	0.65	0.22	0.43
82	Fort Worth	Texas	0.69	0.23	0.34
83	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania	0.51	0.51	0.19
84	Raleigh	North Carolina	0.43	0.22	0.43
85	Bakersfield	California	0.79	0.00	0.26
86	Dallas	Texas	0.75	0.22	0.07
87	Greensboro	North Carolina	0.34	0.34	0.34
88	El Paso	Texas	0.59	0.15	0.29
89	Henderson	Nevada	0.33	0.66	0.00
90	Phoenix	Arizona	0.80	0.00	0.18
91	Santa Ana	California	0.90	0.00	0.00
92	San Jose	California	0.58	0.10	0.19
93	Gilbert	Arizona	0.41	0.00	0.41
94	Chicago	Illinois	0.48	0.11	0.15
95	Irvine	California	0.36	0.00	0.36
96	Oakland	California	0.47	0.00	0.24
97	Los Angeles	California	0.50	0.13	0.05
98	New York	New York	0.24	0.12	0.12
99	Scottsdale	Arizona	0.00	0.00	0.40
100	Chandler	Arizona	0.39	0.00	0.00

Methodology

For the Spookiest Cities Ranking, we analyzed the 100 biggest cities in the US in addition to some of the most famous spooky cities, such as Salem and Gettysburg. While 105 cities were analyzed, the final ranking only shows the top 100 cities.

Haunted Places

The first factor used to determine how spooky each city is was the number of ""haunted houses"" in each location. This data was sourced from Google, Google Maps, Yelp and TripAdvisor.

Spooky Tours

The total number of haunted or spooky tours each city has serves as an additional indicator of how ""haunted"" a city is. This data was sourced from Google, Google Maps, Yelp and TripAdvisor.

Halloween Parades

Furthermore, the number of Halloween parades in each city were counted and used as a final factor in determining a city’s spookiness. This data was sourced from Google, Google Maps, Yelp and TripAdvisor.

Ranking

The final ranking is the sum of these three factors, measured per capita, multiplied by 100,000, resulting in the final ranking of "spooky factors" per 100,000 people.