HauntPay has released its sixth annual Haunt Industry Report, built from more than 1,000 responses from haunt owners, staff, and volunteers. It is one of the few recurring data sets the haunt world has, so it is worth reading, and worth reading critically. The report does not disclose a methodology or break down who those 1,000-plus respondents are, so the numbers describe a self-selected slice of the industry rather than a census. With that caveat in mind, the data keeps circling two problems we have been raising for a while: how haunts get found, and how they make their money.
Most haunts are smaller than you might think
The report is a useful reminder that the typical haunted attraction is not a mega-event. About 27% of operators reported fewer than 1,000 guests in 2025, well above the 15.6% the previous report had anticipated, and by our read of the size chart roughly three-quarters came in under 10,000. The most common bracket was 1,001 to 5,000 guests. That tracks with something we have said for years. Most haunts run on modest crowds, and industry conversation tends to over-index on the giants.
The squeeze is uneven, too. When HauntPay split revenue change by size, the smallest haunts, those under $25,000 in total revenue, were the only group to see revenue fall from 2024 to 2025. Larger haunts grew, and grew more the bigger they were. That is a K-shaped season, and it is the small operators feeling it.
Revenue is up, but read the number carefully
Average sales came in at $105,501.52 per haunt, up 8.43% over 2024. Before anyone celebrates, that rise likely has as much to do with prices as with attendance. The report itself shows haunts charging more: 68.5% now charge $30 or less for admission, down from 77.1% a year ago, which means more haunts crossed above $30. When admission creeps up and average sales creep up together, inflation is doing a lot of the work.
The more important money story is where that revenue comes from.
For 77.2% of haunts, ticket sales are the single biggest revenue producer. Merchandise and gift shop sales account for 6.5%, and concessions for just 2.2%. There is a bright spot, though: reliance on ticket sales as the primary driver fell to 76.4% from 91.6% the year before, which points to some real expansion into merch and food. But the report treats revenue diversification as a footnote, and it never asks the obvious follow-up: what else could a haunt sell? Memberships, year-round events, food as a destination, and demand-based pricing are all on the table, and 62.9% of haunts still charge a single flat fee, which leaves the demand-pricing curve almost entirely unused. Diversifying revenue is the biggest opportunity in this report, and it is the one thing the report does not really address.
Marketing is the new number one problem
For three years running, staffing was the challenge haunters named first. In 2026 it dropped to third, at 31.5%. The top two are now purely about reach: “promoting your haunt” at 46.1% and “finding new customers” at 34.8%.
Here is the tension. Haunters know marketing is their problem, but the money behind it shrank hard. The average marketing budget fell to $11,417.01, down from $24,620.85 the prior year, and the median dropped to $2,000 from $5,000 in the last report. A $2,000 median marketing budget against a six-figure average revenue is strikingly low for a business whose number one challenge is getting found.
Where that budget goes matters even more. Word of mouth leads at 86.2%, digital advertising at 73.6%, and organic social media at 69%, and Facebook is by far the most-used platform. The report reads all of this as a social-media story. But the consumer survey we just broke down tells a different one: 43% of people now start planning Halloween with an online search, more than any social platform. If guests begin on a search engine and haunts spend their thin budgets on social feeds, there is a gap, and it is a findability gap. Very little in this report suggests haunts are investing in being searchable. Our marketing masterclass and our notes on where guests actually find you both land on the same point.
Ticketing, waivers, and the parts that got undersold
The digital operations data is encouraging. Online transactions averaged $84.00 against $54.71 in person, and HauntPay platform data shows online making up 68.32% of sales for haunts that sell both ways. People spend more when they buy ahead, which is another argument for a better online funnel.
One number deserved more weight than the report gave it. Only 54.3% of haunts use waivers for even some of their attractions, and 45.7% use none at all, which is a real exposure. The Haunted Attraction Association’s State of the Industry seminar has flagged waivers and insurance as essential regardless of a haunt’s size, and this data suggests nearly half the industry is still going without. We would treat that as a bigger story than the report does. The broader lessons on how larger operators diversify and protect their revenue apply here too.
The through-line
Strip away the season art and the 2026 report keeps pointing at the same two levers. Haunts are struggling to get found, and they are still relying almost entirely on one revenue stream. The report is good at naming the first problem and quiet on the second. Both have the same answer: meet guests where they actually search, and build more than one way to earn once they arrive.
Frequently asked questions
Who publishes the Haunt Industry Report?
HauntPay, a ticketing and payments company for haunted attractions, in what is now its sixth annual edition, built from more than 1,000 responses.
What is the biggest takeaway for operators?
Marketing is now the top challenge. “Promoting your haunt” and “finding new customers” rank first and second, yet marketing budgets shrank, and haunts are spending on social while consumers increasingly start on search.
What did the report miss?
Revenue diversification. Ticket sales are still the biggest producer for 77.2% of haunts, most charge a flat fee, and the report does not press on how haunts could build additional revenue streams.
Data from the HauntPay 2026 Haunt Industry Report, with analysis by Haunted Attraction Network. Published September 7, 2026.
