What types of hardened candy residue will your child’s dentist scrape off their teeth at the next visit?
Well, it might depend on where you live.
CandyStore.com, an online candy retailer specializing in wholesale and bulk orders, aims to determine the “most popular” Halloween candies in each state, based on most of the past 16 year of company sales data in the months leading up to Halloween. Distributors and manufacturers working with CandyStore.com also “chip in” to provide additional statistics, according to CandyStore analysts.
The retailer found that the most popular Halloween candy in California is M&Ms, followed by Reese’s Cups and Skittles.
While the top candies vary from state to state, CandyStore estimates that Reese’s Cups, M&Ms and Hot Tamales are the three “most popular” candies overall (and in that order) based on sales per pound between 2007 and 2022.
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See below for the “most popular” candies in each state, as determined by CandyStore.com.
| state | Top Candy | 2nd Place | 3rd Place |
| Alabama | Skittles | Starburst | Hershey’s Mini Bars |
| Alaska | Twix | Sour Patch Kids | Milky Way |
| Arizona | Hershey Kisses | Hot Tamales | Smiles |
| Arkansas | Butterfinger | Jolly Ranchers | It’s M&M |
| California | It’s M&M | Reese’s cups | Skittles |
| Colorado | Milky Way | Hershey Kisses | Twix |
| Connecticut | Almond Joy | Milky Way | It’s M&M |
| Delaware | Sour Patch Kids | Skittles | Life Savers |
| Florida | Reese’s cups | Skittles | Hot Tamales |
| Georgia | Jolly Ranchers | Swedish Fish | Reese’s cups |
| Hawaii | Hershey’s Mini Bars | Skittles | Butterfinger |
| Idaho | Smiles | Starburst | Candy Corn |
| Illinois | Sour Patch Kids | Kit Kat | Starburst |
| Indiana | Starburst | Hot Tamales | Jolly Ranchers |
| Iowa | Reese’s cups | It’s M&M | Hershey’s Mini Bars |
| Kansas | It’s M&M | Sour Patch Kids | Reese’s cups |
| Kentucky | Reese’s cups | Hot Tamales | Swedish Fish |
| Louisiana | Lemonheads | Reese’s cups | Blow Pops |
| Maine | Sour Patch Kids | Candy Corn | Starburst |
| Maryland | Hershey Kisses | Hershey’s Mini Bars | Reese’s cups |
| Massachusetts | Butterfinger | Sour Patch Kids | Double Bubble Gum |
| Michigan | Starburst | Candy Corn | Butterfinger |
| Minnesota | Hot Tamales | Tootsie Pops | Skittles |
| Mississippi | 3 Musketeers | Smiles | Butterfinger |
| Missouri | Almond Joy | Milky Way | Hot Tamales |
| Montana | Twix | It’s M&M | Double Bubble Gum |
| Nebraska | Sour Patch Kids | Salt Water Taffy | Twix |
| Nevada | Hershey’s Mini Bars | Hot Tamales | Hershey Kisses |
| New Hampshire | Reese’s cups | It’s M&M | Starburst |
| New Jersey | Tootsie Pops | It’s M&M | Skittles |
| New Mexico | Hot Tamales | Candy Corn | Hershey’s Mini Bars |
| New York | Sour Patch Kids | Hot Tamales | Candy Corn |
| North Carolina | It’s M&M | Reese’s cups | Hershey’s Mini Bars |
| North Dakota | Hot Tamales | Candy Corn | Jolly Ranchers |
| Ohio | Blow Pops | It’s M&M | Starburst |
| Oklahoma | Skittles | Double Bubble Gum | Smiles |
| Oregon | It’s M&M | Reese’s cups | Candy Corn |
| Pennsylvania | Hershey’s Mini Bars | It’s M&M | Skittles |
| Rhode Island | It’s M&M | Twix | Candy Corn |
| South Carolina | Skittles | Butterfinger | Candy Corn |
| South Dakota | Starburst | Jolly Ranchers | Candy Corn |
| Tennessee | Tootsie Pops | Salt Water Taffy | Skittles |
| Texas | Sour Patch Kids | Reese’s cups | Starburst |
| Utah | Candy Corn | Tootsie Pops | It’s M&M |
| Vermont | It’s M&M | Skittles | Milky Way |
| Virginia | Butterfinger | It’s M&M | Hot Tamales |
| DC | It’s M&M | Tootsie Pops | Blow Pops |
| Washington | Tootsie Pops | Salt Water Taffy | It’s M&M |
| West Virginia | Hershey’s Mini Bars | Blow Pops | Hot Tamales |
| Wisconsin | Butterfinger | Hot Tamales | Starburst |
| Wyoming | Reese’s cups | Salt Water Taffy | Double Bubble Gum |
Whichever candy becomes the most popular in your neck of the woods, there’s likely to be plenty to go around: The National Retail Federation estimates consumer spending on Halloween candy will reach an estimated $3.6 billion by 2023 — about half of a billion more than in 2022.
