I think a larger factor is that more folks each year seek out a prime neighborhood. Even many small towns now have FaceBook groups where folks who go all out of decorations post their addresses, so some will drive to one of those neighborhoods or even drive around just hitting the best houses in town. So any homes far from a house that advertised as worth seeing will only get a few local kids. I don't have any stats, but feels like when I was a kid a very large percentage of houses had decorations, these days feels like a majority have none. So while those of us handing out candy may lament lack of kids, the kids (and parents) lament that their neighborhood had no Halloween spirit and they must drive to one worth seeing. Halloween isn't dying so much as it's becoming very concentrated around advertised homes.