Why your Halloween candy bowl costs 15% more this year
- Oct 25, 2026
Trick-or-treaters will get the same fistful of candy on Saturday. The grown-ups buying it are paying a lot more.
Halloween candy prices are up more than 15% in 2026, about four times overall inflation, according to an analysis by Groundwork Collaborative and the Century Foundation.
Some favorites jumped far more than that.
A Mondelēz sour gummy variety pack now averages $4.20, up 39% from $3.02 last year, Scripps News reports. Hershey's seasonal Reese's pack averages $8.23, up 23%.
The figures come from NielsenIQ data comparing a week in early October this year with the same week last year.
Cocoa isn't the whole story
Candy makers have pointed to ingredients for years. Extreme weather in West Africa caused cocoa shortages and record prices, and U.S. products made from cacao rose about 144% from December 2019 to November 2024, Bureau of Labor Statistics figures show, according to Food Dive.
But Groundwork says that no longer explains it. Cocoa prices have fallen substantially from their 2024 peak, according to BLS data cited by Scripps News, and wholesale sugar and corn syrup are down this year.
"The big candy makers are really keeping those prices high to pad their profit margins," said Elizabeth Pancotti, Groundwork's vice president of policy.
The analysis points to Hershey's and Mondelēz's second-quarter gross profit margins, up 30% and 33% on last year, Scripps reports.
The candy makers' side
Hershey says it "has faced significant increases across ingredients, packaging, manufacturing and transportation," a spokesperson told Scripps News. The company says more than 75% of its U.S. candy range sells for less than $4.
CEO Kirk Tanner isn't leaning on discounts either. "It's not about price discount and buy one, get one free," he said at a Barclays conference in September, according to Food Dive.
Mondelēz did not respond to a request for comment, Scripps reports.
Hershey is also hedging its bets. For the first time it has added salty snacks to its Halloween lineup, with fun-size packs of Pirates Booty and SkinnyPop, Food Dive reports.
I'm not buying candy this year, no.
Gina Lucchese, a shopper in Hebron, Connecticut, to WFSB
Shoppers are walking past the aisle
A LendingTree survey found 35% of people shopping for Halloween plan to skip candy this year. Another LendingTree study found a quarter of Americans expected to take on debt to celebrate, including 40% of parents with kids under 18.
"At some level, folks are going to hit credit limits, and then you're looking at a real crunch situation," said Kyle Moore, the Century Foundation's chief economist.
Over ten years, the jump is starker still. A Reese's multipack that cost about $4.50 in 2016 now costs more than $8, WFSB reports.
"They're outrageous," Lucchese told the station.
Halloween isn't cancelled, though. The National Confectioners Association says 81% of Americans plan to celebrate this year, according to Food Dive.
