More Child Pedestrians Are Killed on Halloween Than on Any Other Day. This Year It’s a Saturday.

Nathan Paulus, Head of Content and SEO, MoneyGeek NP
By Nathan Paulus

Updated: October 20, 2026

Advertising & Editorial Disclosure

MoneyGeek’s analysis of federal crash records found 45 children were killed while walking on Halloween from 2010 to 2024. That’s more than any other date on the calendar. Sept. 30 is second with 23, and the average date had 12.9 across the same 15 years combined.

Most of those deaths happen in a narrow window. Twenty-four of the 45 children died between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., one more than Sept. 30 recorded across its full 24 hours.

This year brings two more things to watch. Halloween is on a Saturday, which MoneyGeek’s analysis of the most dangerous days for DUIs found was the deadliest day of the week for drunk driving. Daylight saving time also ends at 2 a.m. Sunday. Clocks turn back to 1 a.m., and the hour after midnight happens twice.

Halloween recorded 45 child pedestrian deaths from 2010 to 2024, nearly twice the 23 on Sept. 30, the next-highest date.
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STUDY FINDINGS
  • Halloween had the most child pedestrian deaths of any date. Forty-five children were killed while walking on Oct. 31 from 2010 to 2024, 24 of them between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. The next-highest date, Sept. 30, had 23.
  • Pedestrian deaths of all ages ran 24% above comparison days. Halloween recorded 338 pedestrian deaths over the 15 years, against an average of 272.5 on the same weekday one week earlier and one week later.
  • Alcohol-impaired crashes accounted for 43% of Halloween-night deaths. An estimated 433 of the 1,010 people killed on Halloween nights died in crashes involving a driver at or above the 0.08 blood alcohol limit, against 41% on comparison nights.
  • Saturday Halloweens were deadlier. The two Saturday Halloweens averaged an estimated 57.6 alcohol-impaired deaths overnight, against 44.5 on ordinary Saturday nights and 22.2 on weeknight Halloweens. Adjusted for the extra hour from the clock change, Halloween ran 7% to 19% above other Saturdays.

Two Risks Peak at Different Hours

The two dangers on Halloween night barely overlap. Child pedestrian deaths happen early, during trick-or-treating: of the 37 children killed between 6 p.m. Oct. 31 and 6 a.m. Nov. 1, 30 died before 10 p.m. Alcohol-impaired crashes build later. Their share of Halloween-night deaths rises from 27% between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. to 60% between midnight and 3 a.m.

Child pedestrian deaths on Halloween night clustered from 6 to 10 p.m., while alcohol-impaired deaths peaked at 1 a.m.

The midnight-to-3 a.m. block had the most alcohol-impaired deaths, an estimated 153.5 over 15 years, and it’s the block getting the extra hour this year. A family home by 9 p.m. misses most of it. A party guest driving home at 1 a.m. is in the middle of it.

Saturday Halloweens and the Extra Hour

Two Saturday Halloweens is a thin sample, and one of them came in 2020, when U.S. traffic deaths rose from 36,355 in 2019 to 39,007.

2015
Saturday
54.5

106

2020
Saturday
60.6
125
Average, 10 Monday-to-Thursday Halloweens
Weeknight
22.2
56.6

Most of the difference between Saturday and weeknight Halloweens is Saturday itself. The ordinary Saturday nights one week before and after averaged 44.5 alcohol-impaired deaths, 2.7 times the 16.3 on ordinary weeknights. Against those Saturdays, Halloween ran 29% higher.

The clock change explains much of that 29%. In 2015 and 2020, as this year, daylight saving time ended at 2 a.m. Nov. 1 and the 1 a.m. hour happened twice. Trim Halloween’s total by one-thirteenth to match a 12-hour night, and its margin over other Saturdays drops to 19%. Take the 1 a.m. hour out of every night, and it’s 7%. Two nights can’t separate the holiday from the calendar. The fair read is that a Saturday Halloween is a long Saturday night with kids out early.

Halloween’s Rank for Pedestrians of All Ages

Count pedestrians of every age, and Halloween ranked seventh among calendar dates from 2010 to 2024. New Year’s Day ranked first with 366 deaths. The other five dates ahead of Halloween are all between Oct. 30 and Nov. 23.

That stretch lines up with the end of daylight saving time in early November, when the evening commute moves into darkness. MoneyGeek’s night driving analysis found driving at night is nine times as deadly as daytime driving. Across all ages, Halloween is one bad night in a dangerous season. The child count is what sets it apart.

California, Texas and Florida Recorded the Most Deaths

California (58), Texas (39) and Florida (31), the three most populous states, recorded the most Halloween pedestrian deaths, and each ran above its comparison-day average. Among smaller states, Nevada (10 against an average of 1.5) and Kentucky (9 against 1.5) show large jumps over their comparison days. Twelve jurisdictions recorded none. Every state is in the table below.

For year-round rates by city, MoneyGeek’s ranking of the most dangerous cities for pedestrians has Memphis, Tennessee, first at 10.5 deaths per 100,000 residents.

Car Insurance After a Pedestrian Crash

A driver who hits a pedestrian is usually responsible for that person’s injuries, and the driver’s bodily injury liability coverage is what pays. State minimum limits can be far below the medical bills from a serious pedestrian crash, and the driver is personally on the hook for anything above the limit. Our guide on choosing liability limits above your state’s minimum walks through how much coverage fits different households.

Your own car insurance can matter when you’re the one on foot. In no-fault states, personal injury protection (PIP) usually covers you when a car hits you as a pedestrian. In many states, uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage applies when the driver has no insurance. Whether either applies depends on your state’s rules and your policy’s terms, which your declarations page lists.

A DUI arrest after a Halloween party creates a separate cost that lasts for years. Insurers raise rates after a DUI conviction, and many states require an SR-22 filing. How much rates rise after a DUI depends heavily on the insurer.

Saturday Night Safety Steps

The data points to two windows, including the early evening for anyone on foot, and the hours after midnight for anyone behind the wheel. The steps below apply to each one.

  1. 1

    Plan trick-or-treating for the early evening with reflective tape or a light on each costume, and cross at corners.

  2. 2

    Drivers out during trick-or-treating hours should slow down and expect a child to step out from between parked cars. MoneyGeek’s pedestrian survival analysis found a pedestrian hit at 25 mph has a 36% chance of serious injury or death. At 35 mph, it’s 51%.

  3. 3

    Book the ride home from a party before you leave the house.

  4. 4

    Hosts should know their state’s social host liability rules. New Jersey law makes a host liable for a drunk-driving crash when the host knowingly served a guest who was visibly intoxicated. In Oregon, a host can be held liable only if the injured person proves, by clear and convincing evidence, that the host served the guest while visibly intoxicated. Rules for underage guests reach further, as a federal report to Congress counted 34 states with social host liability for furnishing alcohol to people under 21, as of Jan. 1, 2020.

Halloween Traffic Deaths by State

Search the table for your state. Counts are totals for Oct. 31 across 2010 to 2024. A difference of one or two deaths between states is within normal year-to-year variation.

Alabama

8
4.0
49

35.5

Alaska
0
0.5
4
3.0
Arizona
12
5.5
49
40.5
Arkansas
5
2.5
25
27.5
California
58
40.5
174
150.0
Colorado
8
3.0
30
19.0
Connecticut
0
2.5
17
14.0
Delaware
0
1.5
5
7.0
Florida
31
25.0
143
123.5
Georgia
11
6.5
75
57.0
Hawaii
0
0.5
3
3.0
Idaho
0
1.0
11
10.0
Illinois
7
4.5
38
48.5
Indiana
7
4.5
46
39.5
Iowa
1
2.5
15
14.0
Kansas
0
2.5
10
21.0
Kentucky
9
1.5
47
37.5
Louisiana
4
3.5
31
27.5
Maine
0
1.5
7
10.5
Maryland
5
7.5
27
22.5
Massachusetts
5
2.0
12
17.5
Michigan
7
6.0
41
44.5
Minnesota
4
4.0
18
14.0
Mississippi
4
2.5
24
33.5
Missouri
3
6.5
31
38.0
Montana
0
1.5
8
8.5
Nebraska
1
1.0
14
10.0
Nevada
10
1.5
17
14.5
New Hampshire
2
0.5
6
4.0
New Jersey
13
11.0
27
30.5
New Mexico
1
5.5
15
20.5
New York
16
15.0
39
48.0
North Carolina
9
12.5
57
61.5
North Dakota
1
0.0
4
5.5
Ohio
7
5.5
52
49.0
Oklahoma
4
3.5
36
33.5
Oregon
6
4.0
19
14.5
Pennsylvania
7
8.0
65
51.0
Rhode Island
0
0.5
8
3.0
South Carolina
10
7.5
43
38.5
South Dakota
1
1.0
9
11.0
Tennessee
7
5.0
48
43.5
Texas
39
25.5
165
150.5
Utah
3
1.0
16
12.0
Vermont
0
0.5
1
4.5
Virginia
3
6.0
38
31.5
Washington
6
7.0
29
26.5
Washington, D.C.
0
0.5
1
2.0
West Virginia
1
1.5
11
7.5
Wisconsin
2
4.5
22
27.5
Wyoming
0
0.5
6
4.5

Methodology

This study uses NHTSA’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), which records every fatal crash on a public U.S. road. Two checks support the method. MoneyGeek’s alcohol-impaired estimate for 2023 came to 12,382 deaths, within 1% of NHTSA’s published figure of 12,429. And against a second baseline built only from dates before the early-November clock change, Halloween pedestrian deaths still ran 25% higher and child pedestrian deaths 2.4 times higher.

About Nathan Paulus

Nathan Paulus, Head of Content and SEO, MoneyGeek

Nathan Paulus is the Senior Director of Content and SEO at MoneyGeek, where he leads content strategy and conducts original data research across insurance, consumer costs, transportation safety, housing, public policy and personal finance. He reviews studies for methodology, source quality and factual accuracy.

Research and Analysis

In more than six years at MoneyGeek, Nathan has published more than 100 original studies and explanatory guides. His insurance research includes 50-state comparisons of health care outcomes, costs and access, and an analysis of how uninsured rates track with state Medicaid expansion decisions and electoral patterns. 

He has analyzed full-coverage auto rates across major insurers in all 50 states and tracked how premium trends relate to industry underwriting losses. That research draws on combined ratio data from Fitch Ratings and AM Best, plus the Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI figures. Beyond insurance, his work spans vehicle pricing trends across the U.S. new car market, summer traffic fatality rates by state, homeowner underinsurance ratios using mortgage and policy data, and housing affordability across all 50 states.

His research has been cited by Bloomberg, the Los Angeles Times, Forbes, Fast Company, the San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today and NBC Los Angeles. Harvard, MIT, Stanford and Yale have referenced his work.

Career

Nathan traces his interest in personal finance back to his grandmother, who ran her household on a simple rule: spend less than you make and save the difference before anything else. That rule shows up in his work today. His writing skips jargon and complex strategy in favor of the basics that help someone living paycheck to paycheck.

He joined MoneyGeek in July 2020 as Director of Content Marketing, where he led the content team and oversaw data journalism production across insurance and personal finance verticals. A promotion to Head of Marketing and Communications followed in December 2023. The new role added digital PR and communications strategy to his responsibilities. He was appointed Head of Content and SEO in January 2025.

Before MoneyGeek, Nathan served as Director of Content Marketing and SEO at Ventrix Advertising, where he helped build two content sites from scratch, contributed to link-building programs that generated more than 1,500 unique referring domains within a year and co-managed a marketing team of more than 20 people. Two and a half years at ABUV Media preceded that role. He advanced from Marketing Research Analyst to Senior Marketing Tactics Analyst, where he built expertise in audience research, content strategy and SEO.

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