What's the Favorite Halloween Candy in Your State?

When a friend alerted me that she had spotted candy corn — the orange, yellow, and white treat that provokes a fierce love/hate debate each year — on grocery store shelves in late July, I was taken aback. It's my favorite Halloween candy (don't @ me!), but was summer the time to make its annual debut? In another year that seems to be in a time warp, I quickly went from being surprised by candy corn's early appearance to popping the sweet cone-shaped candies into my mouth, and I'm not alone.

It's safe to say that people are ready for Halloween.

"As the world continues to shift around us, Halloween is a constant that can bring us joy and excitement by helping people embrace time-honored traditions and create new experiences," said John Downs, National Confectioners Association (NCA) president & CEO. "The Halloween season has always been about people, traditions, and celebrations. Whether people celebrate with a classic night of trick-or-treating or other creative ways of enjoying the season throughout October, this season is all about how we Halloween."

Over the summer, NCA conducted a national online survey and found that 82 percent of Americans are confident they will find safe and creative ways to celebrate the Halloween season; 80 percent are planning to trick-or-treat this fall; and 79 percent of Americans say they plan to fill their Halloween candy bowls this season.

Now, what to choose to fill the candy bowl…

Favorite Halloween Candy by State

To help guide your selections, Candystore.com recently released its 2021 findings of the Most Popular Halloween Candy by State. Interestingly, three candies tied at the top, each with six states under its wrapper: Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Sour Patch Kids, and Starburst. Overall, 19 candies took top honors, and Skittles, the top candy of 2019, was considered crème de la crème in just three states this year.

To compile these findings, the folks at CandyStore.com took 14 years of sales data in the U.S. and Canada (2007–2020), along with input from major candy manufacturers and distributors, and looked specifically at the months leading up to Halloween.

Here's the breakdown for how the candies ranked, and which states chose them in popularity, from most to least.