Halloween is approaching and big bags of mixed candy, from chocolate bars to sour gummies, have been on grocery store shelves for some time already.
Instacart, a grocery delivery service, analyzed consumer shopping trends for last year’s spooky season to determine each state’s “favorite” (most purchased) type of candy. Missouri ranked the highest in unique sales of Tootsie Rolls, the chewy, chocolate-flavored candy with the consistency of caramel and taffy. Tootsie Rolls showed up in Missouri shopping carts 166% more often than the national average, Instacart reported.
In addition to Tootsie Rolls, Missourians love Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, which isn’t unique. Overall, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups ranked as the most popular Halloween candy in 40 states. M&M’s, Snickers, Peanut M&M’s, Twix, Kit Kat, Hershey’s Milk Chocolate, Sour Patch Kids and Skittles also made the top 10 cut.
To determine its Halloween trick-or-treat trends, Instacart calculated the number of grocery orders containing candy in October 2023, analyzing what types of candy were purchased most in each state. Instacart also commissioned The Harris Poll to conduct a survey of more than 2,000 Americans from across the country on their favorite Halloween candies.
In states bordering Missouri, M&M’s (Iowa and Illinois), candy corn (Kansas) and Starburst (Oklahoma) were unique favorites. As for Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups remained the favorite.
When it comes to state sweet teeth (that just doesn’t roll off the tongue, right?), Missouri fared about average — 13.7% of Missouri Instacart orders leading up to last year’s Halloween contained candy. Utah took the lead with 19.4% of orders containing candy and Hawaii rounded out the end with only 10.5% of orders containing candy, per the Instacart report.
Other sweet facts:
- 50% of Americans plan to eat Halloween candy in 2024.
- 46% of Americans plan to pass out Halloween candy to trick-or-treaters in 2024.
- 74% of trick-or-treaters visit homes in their own neighborhood for Halloween.
- 61% of folks who pass out candy expect 25 or more trick-or-treaters.
- In October 2023, “variety candy packs” were purchased 88% more often than the rest of the year.
How ‘Halloween-y’ is your ZIP code?
For the second year, Instacart is charting city “Scare Scores” based on shopping data for Halloween candy, costumes and decorations. On the Instacart website, folks can type in their ZIP code to see how their area shapes up.
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