Candy is popular across the country, especially when it comes to candy-coded holidays, but some states have more of a sweet tooth than others.
Americans bought $55 billion worth of candy in 2025, according to the National Confectioners Association, with $7.7 billion of those sales occurring during the Halloween season. That puts the holiday only slightly behind the winter holidays for candy and ahead of Valentine's Day and Easter.
But not all states are the same when it comes to confectionery treats. InnerBody took a look at which states love candy most, using online search data to find out which ones have the sweetest sweet tooth and which ones are busts when it comes to their appetite for sweet treats.
Utah is the sweetest for candy lovers
Utah topped InnerBody's survey in terms of interest in confectionery treats, rising five places from its ranking a year earlier. One reason for the major interest in candy there could be the state's young demographics. More than 26% of the state is under the age of 18, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, making it a great place to sell candy to an age group that is likely keen to buy it. The InnerBody survey is also backed up by real-world shopping data: Instacart's Halloween candy report found that Utah was also more likely to buy candy than any other state.
Nebraska came in second place, followed by Iowa in third. In fact, five of the top 10 states that searched for candy the most came from the Midwest. But the Midwest isn't the only dominant region when it comes to candy lovers. Fourth-place Kentucky joins three states in the South that made the top 10 for biggest candy fans.
The top 10 states that have the biggest sweet tooth, according to data collected by InnerBody, include:
1. Utah
2. Nebraska
3. Iowa
4. Kentucky
5. Wisconsin
6. Oklahoma
7. Arkansas
8. Missouri
9. Ohio
10. Delaware
The coasts aren't candy fans
Of the 10 states that are the least interested in candy, seven of them are on the coasts. The three that aren't in coastal areas are all in the Mountain West.
Hawaii leads the states that are the least interested in candy, moving up a spot from second place a year earlier in InnerBody's survey. One reason for Hawaii's low rating may be because of the state's specific candy choices, some of which forego traditional American candy options for selections that may not show up on surveys of American candy. Instead, the state favors more unique candy choices influenced by Asian options like rice candies, Yan Yan, and li hing mui candy.
One candy that's become synonymous with Halloween is candy corn, so it's probably not a surprise that the states with the least interest in candy in general are also the least likely to buy the Halloween treat. In fact, in 2025, Instacart reported that the four states that were least likely to add candy corn to their Instacart orders were Hawaii, D.C., Florida, and California. All four states happen to appear in the same order in Innerbody’s 2026 rankings of the states least likely to search for candy.
The 10 states that are the least interested in searching for candy online are:
1. Hawaii
2. District of Columbia
3. Florida
4. California
5. Colorado
6. Montana
7. New Mexico
8. Alaska
9. Washington
10. New York