The Most Popular Halloween Candy in 2026

• 18 Years of Sales Data
• Top 3 from Each State
• Updated Sept 2026
• Interactive Map

Twelve states have a new favorite Halloween candy this year, and one of them picked a candy that had never placed anywhere on this map. Find yours.

By Ben George. Built on 18 years of Halloween candy sales data.

The most popular Halloween candy in America for 2026 is M&M's, holding on to the #1 spot from our last ranking. The candy on the move is Sour Patch Kids. It’s up to #2 nationally and tied with M&M's for the most states won, with ten each. Tap any state on the map for its top three.

We’ve shipped bulk candy to every corner of the country for 19 years. Each fall we go back through Halloween-season sales in every state (our own orders plus data shared by major candy manufacturers and distributors, going back to 2008) to rank the top three candies in each one. This map is our projection for the 2026 season, and the methodology further down explains how it’s built.

What Changed This Year

Twelve states switch favorites

These are the states with a different #1 than in our last ranking, in 2024. By region, that’s five in the West, three in the Midwest, three in the South and one in the Northeast.

The pattern is hard to miss. Seven of the twelve are states trading a chocolate favorite for a non-chocolate one, and not one state went the other way. Florida swaps Reese’s for Skittles, Arizona swaps Hershey Kisses for Sour Patch Kids, and Wyoming gives up Reese’s for Salt Water Taffy. That lines up with where the whole candy business is heading, which we get into below.

Sour Patch Kids catches M&M’s

Sour Patch Kids picks up Arizona, Massachusetts and South Carolina. That puts it level with M&M's at ten states apiece, lifts it from #3 to #2 in national volume, and makes it one of just two candies to win in all four regions of the country.

NERDS Gummy Clusters, from nowhere to Indiana

NERDS Gummy Clusters had never placed in a single state on this map. This year they finish top three in seven states. They’re first in Indiana, second in Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina and Washington, and third in Oregon and Texas. Add it all up and the gummy-centered, crunch-coated clusters debut at #5 in the country, ahead of Hot Tamales and Starburst, as the only newcomer in the national top ten.

People don’t just buy them, they like them. NERDS Gummy Clusters also debuted at #3 in our 2026 survey of the best Halloween candy, where people rank what they like rather than what they buy. The register and the ballot box rarely agree this quickly on a newcomer.

A rough year for Butterfinger and Reese’s

Butterfinger loses four states (Massachusetts, South Carolina, Virginia and Wisconsin) and picks up only Hawaii. That takes it from six wins to three, though it holds on at #10 in national volume.

Reese’s Cups slides from #2 to #4 nationally and gives up Florida and Wyoming, leaving it with Kentucky and New Hampshire. It lost the popular vote this year too. Snickers finished #1 in our best-candy survey, the first time Reese’s hasn’t.

BUBS arrives, and taffy takes Wyoming

BUBS makes its first appearance on the map, finishing third in Kentucky and New York. It isn’t a national force yet (#22 nationally), but the Swedish candy has found an audience fast, and it broke into the top ten of our best-candy survey at #8. Salt Water Taffy, meanwhile, wins Wyoming outright.

Candy corn: hated, but bought anyway lol

Candy corn ranks #8 in national volume and wins three states outright (Maryland, North Dakota and Utah), and North Dakota is new this year. That’s in the same year it took back the title of most hated Halloween candy in our survey of the worst Halloween candy. No candy splits the country harder. People vote one way in polls and another way at the register.

The National Top Ten

Ranked by total pounds across every state where a candy finished top three.

M&M's holds #1. Sour Patch Kids and Skittles climb one place each, to #2 and #3, while Reese’s Cups slides from #2 to #4. NERDS Gummy Clusters is the only newcomer, at #5, and Hershey Kisses drops out of the top ten altogether, from #8 to #18. Starburst falls two places to #7 and candy corn one place to #8. Hot Tamales, Hershey's Mini Bars and Butterfinger hold their places.

The Map, Region by Region

A few patterns jump out of the state-by-state results every year. These are this year’s.

Only two candies win in all four regions. They’re M&M's and Sour Patch Kids. Everything else on the map is regional to some degree.

M&M’s owns the West Coast. California, Oregon and Washington all go M&M’s, and so do Iowa, Kansas, Montana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Virginia. That’s ten states in all, from coast to coast.

Sour Patch Kids is spread just as widely. In the Northeast it wins Maine, Massachusetts and New York. In the Midwest it wins Illinois and Nebraska. In the South it wins Delaware, South Carolina and Texas. In the West it wins Alaska and Arizona.

Hot Tamales splits between the upper Midwest and the desert Southwest, winning Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico and Wisconsin.

Eight candies win exactly one state each. That’s Hershey Kisses in Colorado, NERDS Gummy Clusters in Indiana, Lemonheads in Louisiana, Starburst in Michigan, 3 Musketeers in Mississippi, Tootsie Pops in New Jersey, Blow Pops in Ohio and Salt Water Taffy in Wyoming.

One more stat for the trivia-inclined. Skittles finishes second or third in ten states, more than any other candy, while winning only two (Alabama and Florida). Showing up everywhere is how it climbs to #3 nationally.

How Much Halloween Candy Should You Buy?

More than you think. Nobody in history has woken up on November 1st and said “we bought way too much candy” like it was a bad thing.

The math is simple enough. Figure two or three pieces per trick-or-treater, so a hundred kids at the door means 200 to 300 pieces. Not sure how many kids you get? Guess high. That’s also why individually wrapped bulk candy beats a cart full of grocery-store bags. You get more pieces for your money, and nobody has to do long division in the candy aisle on October 30th.

Still can’t decide what to hand out? Go with your state’s winner from the map above. It’s hard to argue with a whole state. Or browse our Halloween candy and let the kids on your street sort it out.

Then buy a little extra for the grown-ups. According to the National Confectioners Association, 83% of parents admit to sneaking candy from their kids’ trick-or-treat haul. We have some questions for the other 17%.

And don’t wait too long. About half of shoppers (49%) planned to start their Halloween shopping in September or earlier this year, according to the National Retail Federation. Leave it until the 30th and you’re handing out whatever’s left. Nobody wants to be the house with the raisins.

The Spending Picture

The National Retail Federation’s 2026 Halloween survey, published September 22, puts total Halloween spending at a record $13.5 billion, up from $13.1 billion last year. Candy accounts for $4.1 billion of it, up from $3.9 billion, and it’s still the most popular Halloween purchase, with 96% of consumers planning to buy sweets and spending an average of $34.79 each on candy, up from $34.24 last year. In dollar terms, that’s roughly double the $2 billion Americans planned to spend on Halloween candy in 2011.

Some of that record is price. Candy and gum cost 8.1% more in August 2026 than a year earlier, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, after rising 8.1% the year before. Planned candy spending rose about 5%, which suggests that in real terms Americans plan to buy a little less candy than last year, not more. They’re shopping in a gloomy mood, too. The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index finished September 2026 at 48.1, the lowest September reading since the index went monthly in 1978. A year earlier it was 55.1, and in September 2024, the season of our last ranking, it was 70.1. NRF’s read is that shoppers are still treating Halloween as a priority, just “approaching the season with affordability in mind.”

Two longer trends matter for reading the map. The first is the drift away from chocolate. In a $55 billion confectionery category, non-chocolate candy has grown from one-third of sales in 2015 to 40.9% in 2025, according to the National Confectioners Association. High chocolate prices sped it up last Halloween. Among candy sold in Halloween packaging, non-chocolate outsold chocolate by volume, taking a 52% share after gaining more than six points, according to Circana retail data. You can see it on the map, too. Seven of this year’s twelve new winners traded a chocolate favorite for a non-chocolate one.

The second is loyalty. When money is tight, 64% of consumers say they’d rather have less candy than give up their favorite, the NCA found, and most of the map holds steady. In all, 38 of 50 states keep their favorite from our 2024 ranking.

In the Press

This map has been featured by national outlets every October for years, and it even got a shout-out from Hoda and Kathie Lee on the Today Show. Journalists, the graphic and the interactive map above are free to republish with credit, and the methodology is below.

Halloween Candy FAQ

What is the most popular Halloween candy in America? M&M's, #1 in our 2026 ranking (built on Halloween sales data going back to 2008), ahead of Sour Patch Kids and Skittles. M&M's and Sour Patch Kids tie for the most states won, at ten each.

What’s the most popular Halloween candy in my state? Tap your state on the map above for its top three. Twelve states have a new #1 this year. They are Arizona, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, South Carolina, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

What’s new on the Halloween candy map this year? Twelve states have a new favorite, and Sour Patch Kids picks up the most of them, with three. NERDS Gummy Clusters wins Indiana, places top three in seven states and debuts at #5 nationally. Salt Water Taffy takes Wyoming, and BUBS appears for the first time, third in Kentucky and New York.

What is the most hated Halloween candy? Candy corn. It’s #1 worst in our 2026 survey, taking the title back from circus peanuts, even as it wins three states on the map above. The rest of the ranking is in our worst Halloween candy survey.

When should I buy Halloween candy? Earlier than you might think. More than a quarter of consumers buy Halloween treats before October, according to the National Confectioners Association, and about half (49%) planned to start their Halloween shopping in general (costumes and decorations included) in September or earlier this year, according to the National Retail Federation. Popular items genuinely sell through as the 31st approaches.