Misc

The Most Popular Halloween Costumes of 2021

Published

1 year ago

October 29, 2021

Anshool Deshmukh

The Most Popular Halloween Costumes of 2021

Halloween—it’s the time of year when kids and adults alike dress up, eat candy, and show off their spookiest selves. It’s also when the scariest home decorations are the talk of the town, and people are frightened left, right, and center.

With the help of data from Google Trends and their unique Frightgeist series, we visualized the most searched Halloween costumes in the U.S. in 2021.

From spooky to sweet, these are the costumes everyone wants to dress up as this Halloween.

A Brief History of Halloween

Halloween is celebrated each year on October 31, with this year’s Halloween occurring on a Sunday. The tradition originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, where people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts.

The concept of Halloween didn’t gain popularity until it reached the United States. Borrowing from European traditions, Americans began to dress up in costumes and go house to house asking for food or money, a practice that eventually became today’s “trick-or-treat” tradition.

Other superstitions also started to form around the holiday. Young women believed they could divine the appearance of their future husbands by doing tricks with apple parings or mirrors.

Over time, Halloween moved away from focusing on witchcraft and ghosts to the festival we know and love today—a day focused on games, foods of the season, and festive costumes.

What Are the Most Popular Halloween Costumes?

With COVID-19 cases down compared to last year and Americans expected to spend over $10 billion on Halloween this year, much of the United States will be partaking in celebrating the spooky holiday.

From classy costumes and last-minute DIYs to pop-culture outfits and even era-inspired costumes, here are the top 25 most popular Halloween costumes in the U.S. in 2021.

Rank	Costume Name	Category
1	Witch	Horror Films
2	Rabbit	Animals
3	Dinosaur	Animals
4	Spider-Man	Comic Book Characters
5	Cruella de Vil	Film Characters
6	Fairy	Fantasy Characters
7	Harley Quinn	Comic Book Characters
8	Cowboy	Professions
9	Clown	Professions
10	Chucky	Horror Films
11	Cheerleader	Professions
12	Pirate	Professions
13	Pumpkin	Foods
14	Angel	Characters
15	Vampire	Fantasy Characters
16	Among Us	TV Charaters
17	Zombie	Horror Films
18	1980's	Era
19	Superhero	Comic Book Characters
20	Devil	Characters
21	Joker	Film Characters
22	Ninja	Professions
23	Squid Game	TV Charaters
24	Beetejuice	Horror Films
25	Doll	Toys

Notable Trending Costumes

The Netflix show Squid Game has had a meteoric rise in popularity in recent weeks, becoming one of the most-watched shows on the streaming platform—just in time for Halloween.

Squid Game costumes are the 23rd most popular in Google’s search, and they continue to trend high, being the most searched costume idea in Detroit.

In 2020, the mobile game Among Us was the talk of the gaming world, and this year it is the 16th most popular costume, with its popularity spiking in Jacksonville, Florida.

Other notable costumes in the top 50 include Pokémon at #50, Fortnite at #44, Velma Dinkley (of Scooby-Doo fame) at #42, Poison Ivy (the comic book villain) at #33, Beetlejuice at #24 and the entire 1980s decade at #18.

Most Popular Halloween Costumes by State

When it comes to festivals, every state has its unique perspective and traditions on celebrating them. This extends to popular Halloween costumes too.

Though there might be some overlap, digging deeper into the most popular costumes in every state allows us a unique look into how diverse people’s tastes are across the country.

Here is a breakdown of the most popular costumes in the U.S. in 2020 by state:

State	Most Popular Costume	National Rank in 2020
Alabama	Harley Quinn	03
Alaska	Beetlejuice	36
Arizona	Rabbit	04
Arkansas	Doll	12
California	Witch	01
Colorado	Dinosaur	02
Connecticut	Powerpuff Girls	32
Delaware	Doll	12
District of Columbia	Beyonce	333
Florida	Rabbit	04
Georgia	Witch	01
Hawaii	Monsters Inc	43
Idaho	Witch	01
Illinois	Dinosaur	02
Indiana	Witch	01
Iowa	Chucky	20
Kansas	Mickey Mouse	57
Kentucky	Zombie	13
Louisiana	Witch	01
Maine	Dinosaur	02
Maryland	Ninja	09
Massachusetts	Dinosaur	02
Michigan	Rabbit	04
Minnesota	Witch	01
Mississippi	Angel	06
Missouri	Dinosaur	02
Montana	Purge	15
Nebraska	Joker	30
Nevada	Witch	01
New Hampshire	Ninja	09
New Jersey	Witch	01
New Mexico	Clueless	74
New York	Dinosaur	02
North Carolina	Dinosaur	02
North Dakota	Star Wars	28
Ohio	Witch	01
Oklahoma	Dragon	35
Oregon	Fortnite	07
Pennsylvania	Witch	01
Rhode Island	Hermione Granger	146
South Carolina	Wonder Woman	31
South Dakota	Spider	38
Tennessee	Harley Quinn	03
Texas	Harley Quinn	03
Utah	Witch	01
Vermont	Deer	125
Virginia	Rabbit	04
Washington	Angel	06
West Virginia	Zombie	13
Wisconsin	Witch	01
Wyoming	Physician	67

A look at popular costumes at the state level reveals some interesting quirks. Montana, for example, is uniquely interested in The Purge, and Rhode Island trick-or-treaters are big fans of Hermione Granger of Harry Potter fame.

Traditions are Here To Stay

At its core, Halloween still remains that same old fright-inducing festival it has always been.

Even though pop culture might influence your Halloween choices, traditional costumes will always have a unique place in everyone’s heart.

Related Topics:google pokemon halloween costumes Halloween costumes pop culture among us last minute halloween ideas halloween origin halloween history trending costumes squid game

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Misc

Visualizing the Odds of Dying from Various Accidents

This infographic shows you the odds of dying from a variety of accidents, including car crashes, bee stings, and more.

Published

4 days ago

January 27, 2023

Marcus Lu

Infographic: The Odds of Dying from Various Accidents

Fatal accidents account for a significant number of deaths in the U.S. every year. For example, nearly 43,000 Americans died in traffic accidents in 2021.

Without the right context, however, it can be difficult to properly interpret these figures.

To help you understand your chances, we’ve compiled data from the National Safety Council, and visualized the lifetime odds of dying from various accidents.

Data and Methodology

The lifetime odds presented in this graphic were estimated by dividing the one-year odds of dying by the life expectancy of a person born in 2020 (77 years).

Additionally, these numbers are based on data from the U.S., and likely differ in other countries.

Type of Accident	Lifetime odds of dying (1 in #)
Motor vehicle accident	101
Complications of medical and surgical care	798
Alcohol poisoning	1,606
Accidental building fire	1,825
Choking on food	2,745
Drowning in swimming pool	5,782
Sunstroke	6,368
Accidental firearm discharge	7,998
Drowning	10,386
Airplane accident	11,756
Bee or wasp sting	57,825
Dog attack	69,016
Lightning strike	138,849

For comparison’s sake, the odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292,000,000. In other words, you are 4000x more likely to die by a lightning strike over your lifetime than to win the Powerball lottery.

Continue reading below for further context on some of these accidents.

Motor Vehicle Accidents

Motor vehicle accidents are a leading cause of accidental deaths in the U.S., with a 1 in 101 chance of dying. This is quite a common way of dying, especially when compared to something like bee stings (1 in 57,825).

Unfortunately, a major cause of vehicle deaths is impaired driving. The CDC reports that 32 Americans are killed every day in crashes involving alcohol, which equates to one death every 45 minutes.

For further context, consider this: 30% of all traffic-related deaths in 2020 involved alcohol-impaired drivers.

Drowning

The odds of drowning in a swimming pool (1 in 5,782) are significantly higher than those of drowning in general (1 in 10,386). According to the CDC, there are 4,000 fatal drownings every year, which works out to 11 deaths per day.

Drowning also happens to be a leading cause of death for children. It is the leading cause for kids aged 1-4, and second highest cause for kids aged 5-14.

A rather surprising fact about drowning is that 80% of fatalities are male. This has been attributed to higher rates of alcohol use and risk-taking behaviors.

Accidental Firearm Discharge

Lastly, let’s look at accidental firearm deaths, which have lifetime odds of 1 in 7,998. That’s higher than the odds of drowning (general), as well as dying in an airplane accident.

This shouldn’t come as a major surprise, since the U.S. has the highest rates of gun ownership in the world. More importantly, these odds highlight the importance of properly securing one’s firearms, as well as learning safe handling practices.

As a percentage of total gun-related deaths (45,222 in 2020), accidental shootings represent a tiny 1%. The two leading causes are suicide (54%) and homicide (43%).

Interested in learning more about death? Revisit one of our most popular posts of all time: Visualizing the History of Pandemics.