12 States Have a New Favorite Halloween Candy This Year
Halloween candy season is officially bringing a few surprises. A new CandyStore.com map finds that 12 states have a different favorite Halloween candy this year, including one state that chose a treat that had never previously topped the retailer’s annual map.
That headline-making finding is separate from other 2026 candy analyses, so it is worth being precise: different reports use different sales sources and methods, which is why their state-by-state winners do not always match. CandyStore.com’s annual Halloween map tracks its own sales, while DoorDash analyzed October 2025 delivery orders and Instacart examined October 2025 orders by ounces sold.
A dozen states have new candy loyalties
The big takeaway from CandyStore.com’s new map is not that Americans have suddenly fallen out of love with familiar Halloween staples. It is that the state-level picture has shifted in a meaningful way, with 12 states adopting a new favorite compared with the retailer’s prior map. The company also said one of those state winners had never appeared at the top of any state in the history of its map.
CandyStore.com’s search result does not identify the 12 states or name the first-time winner in the publicly available material, so it would be inaccurate to fill in those blanks with speculation. That is especially important this year, when several prominent candy reports have produced different maps using different data sets and definitions of “favorite.”
Still, the broader 2026 data shows that Halloween candy preferences are anything but uniform. Chocolate continues to lead nationally in DoorDash’s ranking, where Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups held the No. 1 position for the third consecutive year, ahead of Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bars, M&M’s and Snickers. But fruity, gummy and sour candies are making a louder case for space in the trick-or-treat bowl.
DoorDash’s ranking put Nerds at No. 5, Skittles at No. 6, Airheads at No. 7, Sour Patch Kids at No. 8 and Haribo at No. 9. Haribo entered DoorDash’s national top 10 for the first time, displacing Twix, and the company said Haribo had already passed Nerds in total orders over the three months before its report.
Reese’s still rules depending on the report
In DoorDash’s state-level study, Reese’s was the candy ordered at a higher-than-national rate in 17 states, putting the peanut butter cup in a league of its own. The company’s state map showed Reese’s taking the lead in Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.
But a separate Instacart report found an even more commanding Reese’s lead. Using ounces sold in Instacart orders from October 2025, the grocery-delivery company said Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups were the top-selling Halloween candy in 40 states. Peanut M&M’s, Hershey’s Milk Chocolate, regular M&M’s and Snickers rounded out Instacart’s top five.
Those differences are not necessarily contradictory; they reflect distinct measures. DoorDash’s state map identifies candy ordered at a higher rate in a given state than elsewhere in the country, which measures local preference rather than raw volume. Instacart, meanwhile, ranked results by ounces of candy sold through its service.
That distinction explains why a candy that is widely bought nationwide may not necessarily “win” DoorDash’s local-preference map. It also helps explain why a regional favorite can appear to surge in one dataset while Reese’s still dominates the broader national conversation. For Halloween shoppers, the practical takeaway is delightfully simple: variety packs are still the safest bet.
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The South, sour fans and candy corn have something to say
DoorDash’s map revealed several strong regional pockets. Sweet Smiles, a budget candy assortment sold by Dollar General, was the standout in seven Southern states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee. Laffy Taffy led in Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin, while SweeTarts topped the map in Idaho, Kansas, New Mexico and Oklahoma.
Some state choices were even more specific. Arizona and California favored Red Vines; Florida and Texas went for Airheads; Connecticut and Illinois chose Sour Patch Kids; New York and Rhode Island selected Kinder Bueno; and Alaska and Hawaii were aligned behind Lindt. Colorado stood alone with Haribo, North Carolina with a Hershey’s Bar and Minnesota with Mike and Ike.
The nostalgia aisle is also having a surprisingly busy season. DoorDash reported that Circus Peanuts orders climbed 350% year over year, Lemonhead orders rose 200%, Bit-O-Honey increased 180% and Dum-Dums more than doubled. Candy corn, perhaps Halloween’s most divisive orange-and-yellow resident, saw orders rise 30%.
Cristen Milliner, DoorDash’s consumer trends expert, said the wider shift reflects a holiday that now has to compete with people’s everyday snack habits. “Little treat culture has made snacking indulgent every day of the week, whether that’s a random Swedish candy haul on a Tuesday or ice cream delivered on a whim,” Milliner said. “So when a holiday built entirely around candy comes around, it has to bring something bigger.”
That “something bigger” appears to include treats that many adults remember from childhood, plus a willingness to mix chocolate classics with sour, fruity and chewy options. Even raisins were up 60% year over year in DoorDash’s data, a fact Milliner acknowledged might surprise the people who insist no child wants to see a tiny red box in a Halloween haul.
“Raisins have been the most maligned Halloween treat for decades, the one everyone claims to hate, and yet they keep climbing every year without fail,” Milliner said. “At this point, I don’t think it’s a fluke. There’s a real shift toward parents wanting to offer something that still feels like a treat without going all in on sugar, and raisins check that box.”
The 12-state shake-up on CandyStore.com’s map is a reminder that the Halloween candy bowl is never as predictable as it looks from the checkout line. Reese’s may be the national heavyweight, but this year’s shifting state favorites, and one unprecedented new winner, prove that America still has plenty of room for a candy surprise.
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