Which Iowa, Minnesota, or South Dakota Town Is Best for Vampires?

Halloween certainly has its spooky side, but it should also be a time to maximize the fun as well.

With that in mind, the folks at Lawn Love (with their tongues firmly planted in their cheeks) have compiled a list of  '2022's Best Cities for Vampires'.

So just how do you even begin to come up with these rankings?

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We looked for cities with plenty of warm bodies, blood centers, and vampire-friendly dwellings — aka casket suppliers and homes with basements. We also considered deterrents like garlic festivals and sunshine, as well as community and entertainment factors, such as vampire groups, nightlife options, and vampire tours.

To see which cities would be most likely to host the next installment of the Twilight series, they looked at three main categories:

• Food and Drink: overall population, blood centers, blood drives
• Lair Safety: number of casket suppliers, the share of homes with basements, amount of cloud cover
• Deterrents: the amount of sunshine, number of herb and spice shops, garlic festivals, and churches

In the Tri-State area, four cities landed in the top 100 nationwide.

Minnesota's Twin Cities checked in among the top 20 with Minneapolis 12th overall and St. Paul at number 19. The North Star State's capital city actually led the U.S. in the 'Lair Safety' category.

Next among Tri-State cities was Des Moines.

The capital of the Hawkeye State is 66th.

In South Dakota, Sioux Falls squeaked into the top 100 at number 86.

If you need to get your vampire fix but don't want to waste all day getting it, there is one city in the top ten that are just a short drive away - Omaha (top ten in 'Food and Drink' and 'Lair Safety') at number seven.

BEST CITIES FOR VAMPIRES

1. New York, New York
2. Chicago, Illinois
3. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
4. Los Angeles, California
5. San Francisco, California
6. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
7. Omaha, Nebraska
8. Portland, Oregon
9. Madison, Wisconsin
10. Baltimore, Maryland

And while Arizona, Nevada, and California may be great places for you and me to retire, their abundant sunshine makes those three states the worst for fanged, pale-skinned types.

For the second straight year, a city from the Grand Canyon State is the worst for vampires with one Phoenix suburb (Surprise) knocking another Phoenix suburb (Tempe) out of the number-one spot.

WORST CITIES FOR VAMPIRES

1. Surprise, Arizona
2. Peoria, Arizona
3. North Las Vegas, Nevada
4. Glendale, Arizona
5. Chandler, Arizona
6. Henderson, Nevada
7. Mesa, Arizona
8. Tempe, Arizona
9. Lancaster, California
10. Huntington Beach, California