Top 20 cities for free candy? Check Zillow’s ‘Trick-or-Treat Index’

San Francisco, Boston and Honolulu are the best bets for productive trick-or-treating this year, based on the latest annual index released this week by online real estate company Zillow.

The Zillow Trick-or-Treat Index is based on four equally weighted data points: the company’s Zillow Home Value Index, which is an aggregation of the company’s home-value estimates for each city area; walkability data by Walk Score (www.walkscore.com); population density statistics, and local crime data from RelocationEssentials.com.

Zillow took the index a degree further this year by highlighting the top five neighborhood areas for trick-or-treating within each of the top 20 cities on its list.

San Francisco topped the list this year and ranked second in the 2010 index; Boston moved up to No. 2 this year from eighth in last year’s rankings; and Honolulu ranked third on this year’s list and was not ranked in the top 20 last year.

Eleven of the 20 cities on this year’s list are in the West; seven of 20 are in the Pacific region; and four of 20 are in California.

2011 Top Neighborhoods for Trick-or-Treating in Top 5 Cities

San Francisco

• Presidio Heights
• Cow Hollow
• South Beach
• Sea Cliff
• Pacific Heights

Boston

• Beacon Hill
• Back Bay
• North End
• South End
• Kenmore

Honolulu

• Kuliouou-Kalani Iki
• Kaimuki
• Waialae-Kahala
• Manoa
• Kapahulu

Seattle

• Madison Park
• Queene Anne
• Ballard
• Laurelhurst
• Wallingford

Chicago

• Gold Coast
• Roscoe Village
• Ravenswood Manor
• Wrigleyville
• Bucktown

Source: Zillow.com.

2010 Zillow Trick-or-Treat Housing Index

Source: Zillow.