Economy

The Best City for Vampires

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Halloween is at the end of this month and is a major holiday for the economy. Last year, Americans spent over $10 billion on Halloween-related items, according to the National Retail Federation. Millions of children (and some adults) will put on costumes. Among the favorites are superheroes and princesses. Among these, there will also be a number of people dressed as vampires.

Vampires first became highly popular with the 1897 publication of “Dracula.” The titular character became known worldwide. Like most vampires, his distinguishing feature was feasting on human blood.

To find “2021’s Best and Worst Cities for Vampires,” Lawn Love researched the number of blood centers, blood drives, casket suppliers, homes with basements, cloud cover, herb and spice shops and Christian churches. The lawn care marketplace operator listed its primary sources as America’s Blood Centers, American Red Cross, Church Angel, Eventbrite, Garlic Seed Foundation, National Centers for Environmental Information, PickYourOwn.org, The Real Yellow Pages, Realtor.com, U.S. Census Bureau, Yelp and Zillow.

The authors admitted the study is silly:

Yes, this ranking is tongue-in-cheek — or rather teeth-in-neck — for the most part, but there’s a serious side, too. The U.S. is in the midst of a national blood shortage. This is bad news for vampires, of course, but it’s good news for you because you can make a difference by donating blood and saving lives.

The study ranked 200 cities from the best city for vampires to the worst. The top city was Naperville, Illinois. According to the Census Bureau, Naperville has 148,449 residents. Of these, about 25% are 18 years old, or younger. The city is very affluent, with a median household income of $125,926, almost twice the national average.

These are the 10 best cities for vampires and their overall scores:

  • Naperville, Ill. (54.54)
  • Pittsburgh, Pa. (51.38)
  • Chicago, Ill. (50.48)
  • Omaha, Neb. (49.64)
  • Tacoma, Wash. (49.15)
  • Paul, Minn. (48.10)
  • Aurora, Ill. (47.55)
  • Columbus, Ohio (47.01)
  • Bellevue, Wash. (45.90)
  • Paterson, N.J. (45.26)

Click here to see the most popular Halloween costume in each state.

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