State-by-State Guide To the Nation’s Favorite Halloween Candy Using 8 Years of Data [interactive]

Little costumed people are about to flood the streets and you’ll need to decide if you’re handing out tricks or treats! To help you buy the best Halloween candy for your neighborhood, we determined the most popular candy by state. How? Well, at CandyStore.com we ship out thousands of pounds of bulk candy each year, especially around Halloween.

To find this data, we looked at sales from 2007–2015—focusing on the three months leading up to Halloween. Since we sell candy to all 50 states (and Canada), it was easy for us to see a state-by-state breakdown of candy trends and top orders. And we have relationships with all the major candy companies, so they helped us verify as well. Based on this analysis, we determined the Halloween best-sellers that people all over the country love to use in Halloween crafts and treats and give out to trick-or-treaters.

Industry research shows that since 2015, online candy sales have increased by 15 percent. People are realizing they can save time and money by skipping the store and purchasing from the comfort of their home.

If you’re curious to see which Halloween candy your state loves most, take a look!

State	Top Candy	pounds	2nd Place	pounds	3rd Place	pounds
AK	Twix	5082	Blow Pops	4012	Kit Kat	3209
AL	Hershey's Mini Chocolate Candy Bars	66000	Candy Corn	40173	Tootsie Pops	34434
AR	Jolly Ranchers Candy	245850	Butterfinger	194631	Hot Tamales Minis	51218
AZ	Snickers	963971	Hershey Kisses	680450	Hot Tamales Minis	453633
CA	Assorted Salt Water Taffy	1650000	M&M's	1188000	Skittles	726000
CO	Twix	5532	Milky Way	4918	Hershey Kisses	2459
CT	Almond Joy	2619	Milky Way	1366	M&M's	910
DC	M&M's	26400	Tootsie Pops	18276	Blow Pops	10153
DE	Life Savers	19905	Skittles	17061	Candy Corn	8530
FL	Skittles	660000	Snickers	543529	Reese's Peanut Butter Cups	194117
GA	Swedish Fish	148731	Hershey Kisses	88136	Lemonheads	38559
HI	Hershey Kisses	271042	Hawaiian Host	255984	Milky Way	105405
IA	Reese's Peanut Butter Cups	60746	M&M's	48597	Butterfinger	18223
ID	Candy Corn	89311	Starburst	54363	Reese's Peanut Butter Cups	34947
IL	Kit Kat	174606	Sour Patch Kids	116404	M&M's	83145
IN	Hot Tamales	101217	Starburst	65068	Snickers	25304
KS	M&M's	247500	Reese's Peanut Butter Cups	210375	Dubble Bubble Gum	111375
KY	Tootsie Pops	77880	3 Musketeers	44930	Dubble Bubble Gum	20967
LA	Lemonheads	108240	Reese's Peanut Butter Cups	76670	Jolly Ranchers Candy	27060
MA	Butterfinger	78573	Sour Patch Kids	67858	Salt Water Taffy	32143
MD	Milky Way	41580	Reese's Peanut Butter Cups	25309	Skittles	10846
ME	Sour Patch Kids	66039	M&M's	33019	Starburst	14151
MI	Candy Corn	150876	Skittles	125730	Starburst	67056
MN	Skittles	199320	Tootsie Pops	189354	Almond Joy	89694
MO	Milky Way	47143	Dubble Bubble Gum	27857	Butterfinger	23571
MS	3 Musketeers	115533	Snickers	90417	Butterfinger	45208
MT	Dubble Bubble Gum	25740	Twix	14850	M&M's	10890
NC	Reese's Peanut Butter Cups	104940	M&M's	86689	Candy Corn	41063
ND	Hot Tamales	70313	Jolly Ranchers Candy	55510	Candy Corn	44408
NE	Sour Patch Kids	105897	Salt Water Taffy	67389	M&M's	24067
NH	Starburst	68871	Snickers	57392	Sour Patch Kids	22957
NJ	Tootsie Pops	164019	Skittles	154907	M&M's	82009
NM	Candy Corn	82731	Milky Way	56407	Salt Water Taffy	41365
NV	Hershey Kisses	341220	Candy Corn	184827	Skittles	127957
NY	Sour Patch Kids	198016	Candy Corn	95047	Reese's Peanut Butter Cups	39603
OH	M&M's	171600	Blow Pops	139425	Snickers	96525
OK	Snickers	19279	Dubble Bubble Gum	8898	Butterfinger	7415
OR	Reese's Peanut Butter Cups	91740	M&M's	51374	Tootsie Pops	36696
PA	Skittles	299442	M&M's	269497	Hershey's Mini Chocolate Candy Bars	104804
RI	Candy Corn	16731	M&M's	11583	Twix	7078
SC	Candy Corn	117480	Skittles	91940	Hot Tamales Minis	35754
SD	Starburst	27809	Jolly Ranchers Candy	19569	Almond Joy	6179
TN	Tootsie Pops	58740	Salt Water Taffy	33200	Skittles	12769
TX	Reese's Peanut Butter Cups	1989901	Starburst	1872843	Almond Joy	819375
UT	Jolly Ranchers Candy	469590	Reese's Peanut Butter Cups	260883	Tootsie Pops	139137
VA	Hot Tamales	286110	Snickers	232464	Candy Corn	107291
VT	Milky Way	32340	M&M's	23100	Skittles	12320
WA	Salt Water Taffy	207900	Tootsie Pops	171211	Hershey Kisses	61147
WI	Butterfinger	115698	Starburst	112983	Lemonheads	30446
WV	Blow Pops	42438	Hershey's Mini Chocolate Candy Bars	19703	Milky Way	16672
WY	Reese's Peanut Butter Cups	31026	Salt Water Taffy	19595	Skittles	17962

 

Alabama

Alabama’s name came from the Choctaw language, so it makes sense it’s stayed a choc-late loving place! Alabamans love chocolate bars, specifically they consume over 66 thousand pounds of Hershey’s Mini Chocolate Candy Bars during the 3Q Halloween season, more than any other individual candy. So stick to a bowl full of chocolate candies for this year’s trick-or-treaters and they’ll be pleased.

Alaska

Alaska mirrors its physical separation from the United States with its candy of choice, Twix. In order for Alaskans to get their favorite treat, these Twix bars have to travel 3,000+ miles from the CandyStore.com warehouse in Los Angeles, which goes to show true love knows no bounds.

Arizona

While Arizonians mining copper from the ground, farmers are digging up peanuts to go into Arizona’s favorite candy, Snickers! This famous candy is coated with a copper colored caramel too, so it’s a funny coincidence business and personal go hand-in-hand here. The number of Snickers bars consumed in Arizona during our study is estimated to be over 8 million.

Arkansas

Arkansas has over 600,000 acres of lakes and 9,700 miles of streams and rivers. It’s no wonder why people living there chose a candy that represents their natural and rugged state, Jolly Ranchers. Over 700,000 pounds per year! These hard candies have become a favorite in the Natural State, and we never get tired of sending bags and bags of them their way.

California

California may be sitting on a massive fault line, but the amount of salt water taffy its people consume will at least keep their teeth stuck together. Californians consume 1.6 million pounds of salt water taffy, and it’s proven to be a crowd favorite.

Colorado

The amount of Twix Coloradans consume every year, would be 10 times higher than the Mile High City stacked end-to-end. Over 50,000 bars. This state just can’t seem to resist its caramel, chocolate, and crunchy cookie compilation.

Connecticut

The state of Connecticut loves Almond Joy almost as much as alcohol. Besides Rhode Island, Connecticut was the only state to never ratify the 18th Amendment, Prohibition! We’re sure they won’t outlaw this favorite chocolate, almond, and coconut candy bar anytime soon either. We wouldn’t want them to start making this confection in bathtubs. It would take a lot of bathtubs to make 26,000 bars!

Delaware

Delaware threw a life saver to the country’s liberties when it stepped up as the first state to ratify the constitution. It’s carried on that legacy by consuming Life Savers by 20% more than any other candy.  That’s a significant margin.

Florida

Florida gets more than 250 days of sunshine every year on average, so it’s no wonder why it’s missing the rainbows that come with the rain. To make up for it, Floridians consume tons and tons of Skittles – an estimated 330 tons to be exact – so much so, that we’ve figured out these rainbow candies are their favorite.

Georgia

The large mouth bass is the official state fish of Georgia. The state’s favorite candy, Swedish Fish, is technically modeled after salted herring, but we won’t carp on that. Whoops, we mean harp. :)

Hawaii

Hawaii has some delicious exports: sugar, coffee beans, and cocoa beans! Since it has so much chocolate at its disposal, it’s nice to see they still import lots and lots of Hershey’s Kisses that are only made on the mainland. The classic Hawaiian Host macadamia nut chocolates were bested by our estimates by only a couple thousand pounds.

Idaho

Idaho may be known for growing delicious potatoes, but we know it as a true corn lover. Well, candy corn that is. We ship more candy corn to Idaho than any other treat, so it’s no surprise that it is their favorite candy.

Maybe they are huge Halloween celebrators?? Candy corn is the most popular Halloween candy in the US.

Perhaps they should pop some different seeds into the ground to get a fix of what they really love.

Illinois

Before Springfield became the capital of Illinois, it had two, Kaskaskia and Vandalia. The Prairie State also loves a candy with two sides, Kit Kat bars. In our study, it’s estimated they consumed over 1.6 million Kit Kats.

Try handing out some snack sized Kit Kat bars to your Illinois trick-or-treaters for a wonderful Halloween surprise. You could even spell Illinois with 2 Kit Kat bars. :P

Indiana

People in Indiana get fired up to watch the Hoosiers. They also get awfully fiery when eating their favorite candy, Hot Tamales. They love those sizzling little things, to the tune of an estimated 1.2 million pounds a year!

Since Indiana temperatures drop into the single digits come winter, we’re happy to keep mouths warm by continuing to send these hot treats!

Iowa

Iowa’s famous black dirt mirrors the chocolate in the state’s favorite candy, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. While the dirt contains superior nutrients that are great for crops, Reese’s Cups contain deliciousness that’s good for the soul.

Kansas

The Sunflower State is now called The M&Ms State by us at CandyStore.com. That’s because our customers in Kansas consume more M&Ms than any other candy. It’s estimated at 250,000 pounds.  More pounds than their state has people!

Kentucky

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop? Not many if you had all the Tootsie Pop fans in Kentucky to help out! This state sure does love these fruity and chocolatey pops.

We send orders their way more often than any other candy on CandyStore.com.

Louisiana

Louisiana sure does love its rich and sweet foods; beignets, crawfish, and Po-Boys top authentic Louisianan menus. That’s why we were surprised to learn that a sweet treat, Lemonheads, are this state’s favorite candy.  Guess they need something to lighten up the palate!

Maine

Eastport, Maine is the first place in the U.S. to see the sunrise. It’s also the first state on our list with a major penchant for Sour Patch Kids. They consume an estimated 66,000 pounds. That’s a lot of sour!

Maryland

People in Maryland love Milky Way chocolate bars. The good news is that they can enjoy eating them while observing the candy bar’s namesake in Alpha Ridge Park at the HALO observatory.

Massachusetts

Maybe Massachusetts love of Butterfingers has something to do with why all that tea slipped out of their hands and into the harbor back in 1773. Doh!  Perhaps not. But what our candy history tells us is that this state certainly loves this chocolate peanut butter candy bar.  Over 650,000 bars are eaten here.

Michigan

Detroit may be the car capital of the world, but Michigan as a whole is a candy-corn-loving capital. People in Michigan consume more candy corn than any other candy. Since candy corn is aplenty come Halloween, it’ll be easy to dole out big handfuls to trick-or-treaters.

Minnesota

The year of 1979 was an important one for Minnesotans. It was the first time a Minnesota hospital performed a blood transfusion and the year in which the state’s favorite candy, Skittles, was invented. After nearly 40 years, we’re glad to see modern medicine has changed, but not the love for a classic American candy.

Mississippi

People in Mississippi sure know how to stick together. Not only is their favorite candy a symbol of teamwork (3 Musketeers), but so is Friendship Cemetery. Ever since the ladies of Columbus put flowers on the graves of both Confederate and Union army soldiers in 1866, America has been celebrating Memorial Day to remind us of bravery and coming together as one.

Missouri

Regular sized Milky Way chocolate bars are Missouri’s favorite candy. And they order plenty from us. At about four inches long, they’re nothing compared to the St. Louis man, Robert Pershing Wadlow, who broke a medical record for measuring in at eight feet, 11.1 inches tall. But if you stacked up the estimated 400,00 million Milky Ways eaten there, they’d be 25 miles tall!

Montana

The largest snowflake ever recorded was found in Montana and measured 15 inches! Maybe Montanans could try to set a new world record with their favorite candy, Dubble Bubble bubble gum. Currently, the world record for the largest bubble gum bubble ever blown is 20 inches in diameter.

Nebraska

Cornhuskers love their Sour Patch Kids. They also love their processed meats. Both Spam and the Reuben were created in Nebraska. Although, we don’t think Sour Patch Kids complement either very well. They’re probably best eaten as dessert!

Nevada

Nevada’s favorite candy, Hershey’s Kisses, looks a lot like the mountain ranges they’re known for. With tiny chocolate peeks, Nevadan’s can enjoy these little candies while looking at their 300 mountain ranges—the most in any state in the country.

And with the 340,000 pounds they consume, they could probably create another mountain!

New Hampshire

The whole “Give me liberty, or give me death” mantra of New Hampshire made quite a splash when the state was the first of the 13 original colonies to declare its separation from England. That’s why we’re not shocked an explosive candy like Starburst is the state’s favorite.

New Jersey

People in New Jersey love their diners. In fact, the state actually has the most diners in the nation! What else does New Jersey have? The most love of Tootsie Pops. They’re one of three states who consume this yummy lollipop more than any other candy.

New Mexico

New Mexico is one of the Four Corner States. Oddly enough, its favorite candy only has three. People from New Mexico love candy corn and we’ve been shipping boxes of it all year-long. Since the state is also known for its hot chili peppers, it’s no wonder they need something sweet!

New York

New Yorkers aren’t known to be the friendliest sort, but you can’t judge a book by its cover! That’s why we think it’s ironic and funny that people in New York state love Sour Patch Kids so much. The whole “First they’re sour. Then, they’re sweet” slogan couldn’t be more true. New Yorkers eat almost 200,000 pounds of Sour Patch Kids.

North Carolina

Krispy Kreme Donuts was founded in North Carolina, so the cat’s out of the bag about this region having a major sweet tooth. When it comes to candy, North Carolinians consume Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups most.

North Dakota

Milk is the official state beverage of North Dakota—not pop. However, we find that milk makes more sense with North Dakota’s favorite candy, Hot Tamales. Milk is one of the best things to drink when you eat something spicy, since it calms the capsaicin that sets your tongue on fire but encapsulating it in fatty oils.

Ohio

Ohioans stop in their tracks for M&Ms chocolate candies. They also were the first to stop at a stop light in America. Cleveland is the site of the nation’s first traffic light, which was built in 1914.

Oklahoma

The official Oklahoma state flower used to be mistletoe, and now it’s a rose. How romantic! The state also keeps the romance alive by eating Snickers—a candy coated in a famous aphrodisiac (chocolate). Maybe that’s why they eat over 160,000 Snickers bars a year!

Oregon

Oregon is home to the awe-inspiring Crater Lake. Unsurprisingly, the state loves another crater-like candy, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. This candy didn’t form from an ancient volcano, but it does erupt with peanut buttery goodness with every bite.

Pennsylvania

Do you Pennsylvanians have no loyalty!? Even though Hershey’s is headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania, people in the Keystone State prefer Skittles—and lots of them.

Rhode Island

Rhode Island may be the smallest state in the U.S., but it has a big appetite for candy corn. Paralleled by the Atlantic, we’re happy to send them something sweet to offset all the salt.

South Carolina

The first shots of the Civil War broke out at South Carolina’s Fort Sumpter in April 1861. Luckily, there is no dispute about the state’s allegiance to candy corn. At CandyStore.com, we ship more candy corn to South Carolina residents than any other candy.

South Dakota

South Dakota memorialized Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, George Washington, and Abe Lincoln in rock in Mt. Rushmore. Perhaps it wouldn’t mind chiseling in a space to represent Starburst, the states famous candy. South Dakota eats over 84,000 pounds of Starbursts a year. That’s a lot for South Dakota!

Tennessee

Tootsie Pops (Tennessee’s favorite candy) are named after the inventor’s loving nickname for his daughter, Tootsie. Tennessee was named The Volunteer State after it sent soldiers to help defend American freedoms in the War of 1812.

Texas

Texans tip their hats to Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. While the state is already big on barbecue and everything beef, it makes sense they like a decadent treat made of peanut butter and chocolate. Since everything is bigger in Texas, you should probably order some king sized Reese’s Cups for Halloween this year.

Utah

Utahans love their Jolly Ranchers candies. Maybe because it harkens back to pioneer days? Utah still has five national parks and six national forests to preserve the pristine nature that settlers enjoyed back in the 1800s.

Vermont

Vermont is a food lovers’ paradise. Aside from indulging in its favorite candy, Milky Way, Vermonters can chow down on Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, drink beer at over 45 craft breweries, and enjoy maple syrup from the state’s millions of sugaring trees.

Virginia

Hot Tamales are Virginia’s favorite candy. Virginia also happens to be the “hot” place if you want to be president. Eight U.S. presidents were born in Virginia, and so were six of their wives.

Washington

Washington state has 157 miles of coastline. No wonder the state loves its salt water taffy. From Seattle to Spokane, we sell a lot of it!

Washington D.C.

Washington D.C.’s favorite candy, M&Ms, are coated in a hard candy shell and a rainbow of colors. The White House is coated in 570 gallons of white paint!

They consume over 26,000 pounds of M&M’s.  They should cover the White House in white M&M’s next time!

West Virginia

West Virginia is a mining state. That’s why it’s no shock that the people living there like to do a little digging to get to a prize. The Mountain State’s favorite candy is Blow Pops, and you have to get through a hard candy shell to be rewarded with the bubblegum within.

Wisconsin

The Badger State sure does badger CandyStore.com to send it pounds and pounds of Butterfinger candy bars. Just kidding! At CandyStore.com, we love mailing people candy they love most. What else do Wisconsin dwellers love? Cheese and football.

Wyoming

Big Sky Country has a big sweet tooth for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. It’s also home to some of the least populated cities—one town only has one resident! So, Wyomingers won’t need to share Reese’s Cups with any neighbors if they don’t want to.

We’re happy to serve up favorite treats to people all over the country—and the world! If you need to shop for candy for Halloween, birthdays, holidays, or anything else, check out CandyStore.com’s supply. We have everything from color-coded treats to bulk candy selections to make any event delicious.