Most Popular Jelly Bean Flavors Ranked

Almost every year, Easter and National Jelly Bean Day both fall in April, making it the de facto Month of the Jelly Bean.

In a normal year, over 16 billion beans are made just for the Easter season. With things starting to open back up this year, it’s tough to tell whether fewer or more jelly beans will be needed. Perhaps people will feel like outdoor Easter egg hunts are safe and go big after a quiet 2020. It remains to be seen but should be interesting to watch it play out.

Looking at over 13 years of candy sales data and the results from over 10,000 survey responses, we were able to map out jelly bean flavor preferences by state.

The interactive map above illustrates each states favorite jelly bean flavor. Hover over a state to reveal the top 3 most popular in that state. The results are not specific to any one brand of jelly bean.

Here is a list if you prefer browsing that way.

State	Top Flavor	2nd Place	3rd Place
Alabama	Juicy Pear	Watermelon	Black Licorice
Alaska	Cotton Candy	Cherry	Watermelon
Arizona	Cinnamon	Buttered Popcorn	Juicy Pear
Arkansas	Buttered Popcorn	Watermelon	Juicy Pear
California	Cinnamon	Buttered Popcorn	Black Licorice
Colorado	Black Licorice	Watermelon	Juicy Pear
Connecticut	Buttered Popcorn	Cherry	Juicy Pear
Delaware	Cinnamon	Toasted Marshmallow	Buttered Popcorn
Florida	Juicy Pear	Watermelon	Cinnamon
Georgia	Buttered Popcorn	Red Apple	Juicy Pear
Hawaii	Cherry	Watermelon	Grape
Idaho	Orange	Buttered Popcorn	Cherry
Illinois	Chocolate	Black Licorice	Grape
Indiana	Blueberry	Black Licorice	Watermelon
Iowa	Cherry	Buttered Popcorn	Grape
Kansas	Cinnamon	Black Licorice	Watermelon
Kentucky	Black Licorice	Cinnamon	Strawberry
Louisiana	Pink Strawberry	Buttered Popcorn	Cherry
Maine	Root Beer	Cherry	Black Licorice
Maryland	Cherry	Root Beer	Buttered Popcorn
Massachusetts	Coconut	Bubblegum	Watermelon
Michigan	Buttered Popcorn	Black Licorice	Green Apple
Minnesota	Black Licorice	Toasted Marshmallow	Cinnamon
Mississippi	Green Apple	Watermelon	Buttered Popcorn
Missouri	Buttered Popcorn	Orange	Watermelon
Montana	Black Licorice	Cotton Cnady	Cinnamon
Nebraska	Sour	Black Licorice	Blueberry
Nevada	Coffee	Cinnamon	Watermelon
New Hampshire	Watermelon	Juicy Pear	Grape
New Jersey	Black Licorice	Peach	Cherry
New Mexico	Cherry	Toasted Marshmallow	Watermelon
New York	Sour	Buttered Popcorn	Toasted Marshmallow
North Carolina	Cinnamon	Black Licorice	Grape
North Dakota	Cinnamon	Black Licorice	Buttered Popcorn
Ohio	Cinnamon	Black Licorice	Buttered Popcorn
Oklahoma	Coffee	Green Apple	Toasted Marshmallow
Oregon	Watermelon	Sour	Black Licorice
Pennsylvania	Cinnamon	Black Licorice	Blueberry
Rhode Island	Blueberry	Cinnamon	Pink Strawberry
South Carolina	Cherry	Black Licorice	Blueberry
South Dakota	Pink Strawberry	Cinnamon	Blueberry
Tennessee	Black Licorice	Juicy Pear	Blueberry
Texas	Buttered Popcorn	Cinnamon	Black Licorice
Utah	Cherry	Banana	Black Licorice
Vermont	Juicy Pear	Orange	Island Punch
Virginia	Cinnamon	Watermelon	Buttered Popcorn
Washington	Juicy Pear	Orange	Pink Strawberry
Washington, D.C.	Cherry	Black Licorice	Cinnamon
West Virginia	Buttered Popcorn	Blueberry	Cinnamon
Wisconsin	Watermelon	Juicy Pear	Cotton Candy
Wyoming	Juicy Pear	Cinnamon	Cotton Candy

National Jelly Bean Rankings

As a nation, sometimes it seems like we can’t agree on anything. Our size, diversity and multitude of culturally-influenced preferences creates a rainbow of opinions. This particular rainbow happens to be made of jelly bean opinions.

We ranked the top 21 jelly bean flavors in America. Here we go.

#1 Cinnamon – Reigning Champion

Cinnamon made steady progress towards the top over the past few years. It finally overtook the #1 spot last year and hangs on again this year. This spicy red jelly bean flavor is part of a trend of spicy candy we noticed a while back.

Things have been heating up for cinnamon jelly beans. Sour candy, spicy candy, savory candy are all becoming more and more popular. In fact, the top 3 jelly bean flavors do not include a sweet or fruity flavor at all!

Spicy and packing heat, cinnamon is your #1 jelly bean flavor, America.

#2 Black Licorice

Black Licorice is regaining its mojo. It had been on a losing streak, falling from the #1 spot 3 years ago down to #3. It took a step forward this year back to the #2 spot.

The number two spot is very near the top and there’s no denying the immense popularity of black licorice jelly beans. They are polarizing to be sure, but enough people still love them to push them above what was traditionally the top jelly bean flavor in the western hemisphere: cherry.

#3 Buttered Popcorn

Salty and buttery, Buttered Popcorn was still riding high last year, maintaining at #2 after knocking Black Licorice off the top spot 3 years ago. Black licorice has pushed it aside again this year. Both flavors incite strong opinions, positive and negative, but in the end, Buttered Popcorn has work to do to if it wants to become the number one jelly bean flavor in America again.

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#4 Cherry

Cherry is like the jelly bean elder. It has been around for a long time and was once the king of jelly bean flavors, reigning for more than 20 years. It’s no longer in the top 3, but perhaps its time has not yet come.

Cherry was #4 last year as well. Maintaining it’s place on the charts is impressive for a sweet fruity flavor in this new savory/spicy world we live in. Only time will tell if Cherry can reclaim a place on the podium, or fall back into the fray of other fruity flavors.

#5 Juicy Pear

Juicy Pear is sort of a new classic jelly bean flavor. It has reached a high level of popularity in a relatively short lifespan. This year it even took over as the #1 flavor in Colorado, Wyoming and Florida!

#6 Coffee

Coffee had a major year, jumping from the #16 spot all the way up here to #6. It was the biggest move of the year and felt like it was overdue.

Coffee, the drink, has never been more popular, and coffee flavored treats and gifts are on the rise. Coffee flavored jelly beans are no different, making strong moves and mixing it up with various flavor varieties like latte and espresso (which we lumped together).

#7 Watermelon

Watermelon held it’s place at the number 7 spot this year. They are popular coast to coast, and like cherry are more of the sweet-flavored

#8 Root Beer

Maine’s favorite flavor, Root Beer, is moving up fast. Jumping 2 spots again this year to make the number 8 spot, it has moved 7 spots up in 3 years.

That’s some big moves for a classic flavor and could be another signal that fruity flavors are headed for a recession.

#9 Cotton Candy

Cotton Candy has been knocking on the door of the top ten for a few years now. This year it made the jump from #11 to #9.

This fair ground-inspired flavor is all sweetness without the fruity. For some people it’s the perfect combination of sweet and no citrus.

#10 Orange

Orange flavor fell another spot this year after getting jumped by Cotton Candy. Orange has held strong as a classic jelly bean flavor to remain in the top ten. It even took the top spot in Idaho!

#11 Sour

Sour flavored jelly beans have made a nice move up this year, moving up from #13 to #11 most popular flavor. They were #1 in New York and now Nebraska too! It’s no secret that New Yorkers love sour candy.

#12 Coconut

Coconut is moving up from #14 last year. It’s another classic flavor that’s not super fruity and doing well. Something about those fruity flavors aren’t hitting home as much as they used to. Is this just a product of widespread flavor diversity?

#13 Toasted Marshmallow

Toasted Marshmallow dropped big time from the #6 spot last year. It was the biggest drop of the year.

The toasty flavor warms the heart and the belly. It’s a great flavor to compliment other flavors and cut through some of the super sweet fruity flavors with a more creamy and slightly savory taste. It however, is not the top flavor in any one state , and it’s popularity is clearly waning.

#14 Chocolate

Chocolate jelly beans moved up again this year, 5 spots from the #19 to #14 place. Chocolate lovers might wonder why it’s not even higher, but they did claim the #1 spot in Illinois again!

#15 Green Apple

A Green Apple jelly bean a day keeps the doctor away. Probably not, but Green Apple is reeling now after dropping another 3 spots this year. From #8 three years ago, they now find themselves at #15. A classic old school jelly bean flavor, Green Apple can still hold its head high as a top 15 flavor.

#16 Blueberry

Blueberry jelly beans, the flavor they invented specifically to make the blue in red white and blue, has fallen another spot to #16, down 3 spots in as many years. Useful for their blue color, which is a popular color for event candy, blueberry jelly beans may struggle to differentiate themselves from the crowd of fruity flavored jelly beans.

#17 Strawberry

Strawberry jelly beans have seen an abrupt reversal of fortune, and not in a good way. Dropping all the from the #8 spot down to #17, these classic favorites might need a PR team to explain what the heck happened here.

#18 Grape

Grape stayed strong at #18, same as last year. Purple is a strong color and is an asset to Grape jelly beans. Purple is one of the most popular candy colors and there are not many other purple flavors.

#19 Banana

Banana flavored jelly beans moved up from #21 to #19, a small but significant move. Banana is a classic candy flavor that isn’t super traditional for jelly beans, but the popularity of Jelly Belly has made it more prominent in recent years.

#20 Bubblegum

Bubblegum flavor fell 3 spots from #17 last year, making it a 6 spot loss over 3 years. So bubblegum is in a downtrend. This may reflect a trend towards less sugary flavors and more savory and spicy ones. Similar in color and flavor to Cotton Candy, it’s moving in the opposite direction. Could there be a zero sum game between them?

#21 Red Apple

Red Apple fell back a spot to #21. Red apple has done well to stay moderately high even though its greener brother is the more famous of the apple flavors.

Most Popular Jelly Beans by State [Interactive Map]

Jelly Beans Quick Facts

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