The Most Affordable Grocery Store for Halloween Candy in Every State
This Halloween, Americans may spend around $4.6 billion on Halloween candy. That’s around 12.5% of the nation’s annual candy budget. But with the global “cocoa crisis” and the rising bills associated with the present tariff policy, kids and ghouls alike may find themselves the victims of shrinkflation — smaller bars and packets for the same price. How can you meet expectations without exceeding your budget?
One recent survey of 2,000 Americans found that 52% are planning to spend less on Halloween candy this year, estimating an average spend of $58 on candy. But, while others recommend switching from candy to chips to keep Halloween costs down, candy has been the norm for well over half a century (following over 1,000 years of candy alternatives such as fruit, nuts, coins and toys), and it is still possible to meet expectations if you know where to shop.
To help consumers save, CashNetUSA checked the prices at over 2,000 grocery stores to identify which store sells branded candy the cheapest in each state and major city. And we found that savings of up to 43% are possible when comparing local prices at the cheapest stores against the national average. Read on to find out the most affordable candy option near you — and how to avoid a big (price) shock this Halloween.
What we did
First, we manually compared the results of a YouGov poll on popular Halloween candy with the stores’ bestsellers to build a list of 18 of the most popular branded candy items. We then found the price of ordering these items from a ZIP code in each of 145 major American cities and calculated the average cost per item at every chain in each city and state. Comparing the average prices of the branded items nationally to the average across all chains in each state/city allowed us to calculate the price premium for branded candy at each store, in each location.
Key Findings: The least expensive stores for Halloween candy.
- Target is the cheapest place for Halloween candy in 20 states — the most of any store.
- New York City’s cheapest candy is found at America’s Food Basket, where it costs 20.73% less than the national average.
- The cheapest grocery chain in LA for Halloween candy is Grocery Outlet, which is 35.21% below average.
- Grocery Outlet is also the cheapest nationally, with Halloween candy costing on average 43.50% less than the national average.
Target has the most affordable candy in 20 states
First, we identified the grocery chain with the most affordable candy in each state. We found that Target is the cheapest in 20 states — the most of any chain. The savings, compared to the national average cost of the same basket of branded candy, range from 9.89% in North Dakota to 30.78% in Hawaii.
Grocery Outlet, which is the cheapest in six states, including California and Washington, offers even larger savings: from 35.85% in Pennsylvania to 46.22% in Nevada.
Target’s Halloween candy pricing is part of a deliberate strategy to capitalize on seasonal specials and draw customers to the store as it struggles with declining sales. The store announced 1,500 new Halloween products for 2025, with prices on spooky decor starting at a dollar and generally staying under $25.
In the candy aisle, Target offers both the branded candy we’ve priced up for our report and cheaper exclusive ‘owned brand’ products such as Joyride Spooky Gummies. Target claims that this strategy is paying off, and that its share of seasonal sales is growing, even as its broader market share declines.
Fry’s bucks statewide pricing trend in Phoenix
Next, we identified the cheapest store for Halloween candy in 20 major cities. Many of these cities’ cheap spots align with the statewide pattern. For example, Grocery Outlet is the cheapest in all four California cities.
Phoenix is one major city to buck the broader state trend. While Target is the cheapest for Arizona as a whole, in Phoenix, the most affordable Halloween can be found at Fry’s — where the cost of our sample basket of branded candy is 21.96% lower than the national average.
Fry’s operates exclusively in Arizona and is part of the Kroger family of stores that also includes Dillons, Fred Meyer and Smith’s, among others. In addition to its cheap Halloween candy, Fry’s reputedly discounts its regular candy in the weeks ahead of October to make shelf space for seasonal confectionery. So, if the local kids aren’t fussy about the ‘treats’ they get on Halloween, it’s possible to stock up on discounted alternatives.
Grocery Outlet offers biggest Halloween candy savings overall
Finally, we compared the overall average price of a set list of branded Halloween candy at 29 popular grocery chains. We identified the 15 that have below-average prices, together with their price premium.
Grocery Outlet is the cheapest nationwide by a significant extent, with a basket of candy costing 43.50% less than the national average. This is 13.52 percentage points more savings than the second-cheapest store, Walmart (29.98%).
Grocery Outlet describes itself as “one of the largest opportunistic buyers of grocery items in the country.” In practice, this means the store snaps up discontinued goods, other stores’ excess inventory and other reduced-price goods and passes part of the reduction on to their customers.
While this means you won’t always be guaranteed a fixed line-up of brands and products in your local Grocery Outlet, the ones we checked did have enough of the common branded Halloween candies we searched for to make a fair comparison between stores.
Five ways to save money at Halloween
Halloween has become a major part of the American calendar, but between treats, costumes and decor, the bills can soon add up. To keep the cost down, consider the following tips:
- Set a budget. It’s an exciting time of year, and the best way to avoid getting sucked into buying too much Halloween merch is to set a firm budget before you go shopping. It also gives you a line to draw if the kids keep asking for more. Consider using a budget calculator to get started.
- Team up to buy in bulk. Halloween is a competitive season for grocery stores. While some won’t be keen to reduce prices on ‘must-buy’ goods, they may offer bulk-buy discounts to lure you in — so consider pairing up with friends or neighbors to buy big and share the savings.
- Reuse and reimagine. Making new Halloween costumes and decor from last year’s collection and reusing empty household packaging saves money and creates fun.
- Swap and borrow. Find other families who are ready to hand down previous Halloween costumes as their children grow — and pay it back by passing on your own outgrown clothes to younger families.
- Hit the shops the first week of November. A lot of candy has a long expiration date. Instead of waiting until next Fall to buy Halloween candy, pick it up in the reduced aisle in the days following this year’s holiday.
It may be the most frightening time of the year, but your Halloween bill needn’t be a shocker.
Methodology
To discover the most affordable grocery stores for Halloween candy by state and city, we explored grocery prices from more than 2,000 stores across America.
First, we manually compared the results of a YouGov poll on popular Halloween candy with the stores’ bestsellers to build a list of 18 of the most popular branded candy items (e.g., M&M’s, Reese’s Cups, Jolly Ranchers) to compare like-for-like across different stores in each location. We also built a seed list of 145 cities that included the top 100 most populous across America and at least the two most populous in each state.
Using Instacart.com, we then input an address from the most populous zip code in each state/city and noted the prices of the branded grocery items from every available store that delivered to that location. Once the data was collected, we calculated the average price per item at every chain in each city/state.
Comparing the average prices of the branded items to the average across all chains in each state/city allowed us to calculate the price premiums.
We only included supermarkets where at least 10 of the 18 items were available.
The data is correct as of October 2025.
DISCLAIMER: This content is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial, investment, tax or legal advice.
