Toms River Snubbed From Best Halloween Towns List (Salt Lake City Won?)

Well, this is just a slap in the face to the town that hosts one of the biggest Halloween parades in the country! If you're not familiar with the Toms River Halloween Parade, it is an absolutely massive celebration of all things Halloween, with tens of thousands of people lining the streets of downtown Toms River, celebrating the spookiest night of the year.

Toms River also lines Main Street with festive scarecrows every October and, in my opinion, is a town that does a really good job of celebrating Halloween.

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Toms River, NJ Did Not Make The List Of Top 20 Halloween Towns In America

So imagine my shock when I saw a list going around for 2026's best places to celebrate Halloween, and Toms River didn't make the list! It's a slap in the face.

What Were The Top 20 Halloween Towns In America?

Only In Your State released its findings of America's 20 best towns and cities to celebrate Halloween, and there were some heavy hitters on the list, sure.

Photo by Colton Sturgeon on Unsplash

Places like Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., even Cleveland, and St. Louis made the list.

But Toms River, the home of one of the country's largest Halloween parades, did not.

What Is The #1 Halloween Town In The Country For 2026?

And you're probably assuming, much like I did, that a place like Salem, Massachusetts, got the number one spot for America's best Halloween town. You'd be wrong there too.

Only In Your State ranked Salt Lake City, Utah, as the best Halloween city in America!

It's all about proportions. Salt Lake City has the most candy stores per person in the country, the most Halloween stores, and the most parties per person in the country, and it ranked highest overall in terms of pumpkin patches and haunted attractions.