Halloween is the time of year when both children and adults dress up, eat candy, and show off their spookiest selves. It’s also the time of year when the scariest home decorations become the talk of the town, and people are terrified left, right, and centre. Here is an illustration of the most searched Halloween costumes in the United States in 2021 using data from Google Trends and their unique Frightgeist series. From terrifying to charming, these are the Halloween costumes that everyone wants to wear this year.

Halloween’s Brief History

Every year on October 31, Halloween is celebrated, with this year’s Halloween falling on a Sunday. The custom stems from the ancient Celtic holiday of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and dress up in costumes to ward off ghosts.

Halloween did not become popular until it arrived in the United States. Borrowing from European traditions, Americans began dressing up in costumes and going door to door asking for food or money, a practise that evolved into today’s “trick-or-treat” celebration.

Around the holiday, other superstitions began to emerge. Young ladies believed that by performing feats with apple parings or mirrors, they might predict the look of their future spouses.

Over time, Halloween evolved from a festival centred on witchcraft and ghosts to the festival we know and love today, a day centred on games, seasonal delicacies, and festive demon slayer costume.

Which Halloween Costumes Are the Most Popular?

With COVID-19 instances down from last year and Americans expected to spend more than $10 billion on Halloween this year, much of the country will be relishing the macabre holiday.

Notable Fashionable Costumes

Squid Game, a Netflix programme, has enjoyed a stratospheric climb in popularity in recent weeks, becoming one of the streaming platform’s most-watched shows just in time for Halloween.

Squid Game costumes are the 23rd most popular in Google searches, and they are the most sought costume concept in Detroit.

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

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

State-by-State Popular Halloween Costumes

When it comes to holidays, each state has its own take on them and traditions for commemorating them. This also applies to popular Halloween costumes.

Though there may be some overlap, delving deeper into the most popular costumes in each state gives us a unique perspective on how diverse people’s tastes are across the country.

A glance into popular state-level costumes reveals some fascinating anomalies. Montana, for example, is particularly interested in The Purge, and trick-or-treaters in Rhode Island are huge admirers of Harry Potter’s Hermione Granger.

Traditions are not going away

At its foundation, Halloween is still the same old fright-inducing holiday that it has always been. Even though pop culture influences your Halloween costume selections, classic costumes will always hold a special place in everyone’s heart.