Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are the most popular Halloween candy in the US for 2026, ranking first in DoorDash’s national Halloween orders for the third year in a row, ahead of Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bars and M&M’s. Reese’s is also the standout candy in 17 states, far more than any rival, while Sweet Smiles leads seven Southern states and Laffy Taffy leads five across the Plains and upper Midwest.
The rankings, published on September 10, 2026, are based on DoorDash orders placed from October 1 to October 31, 2025. Candy is also the most widely bought Halloween item: 96% of shoppers plan to buy some this year, spending $4.1 billion. The table shows the national top 10, followed by the favorite in every state, regional patterns and the trends reshaping the candy bowl.
| # | Candy | Made by | Standout pick in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups | The Hershey Company | 17 states |
| 2 | Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar | The Hershey Company | North Carolina |
| 3 | M&M’s | Mars | None |
| 4 | Snickers | Mars | Maryland, Nevada |
| 5 | Nerds | Ferrara | None |
| 6 | Skittles | Mars | None |
| 7 | Airheads | Perfetti Van Melle | Florida, Texas |
| 8 | Sour Patch Kids | Mondelez International | Connecticut, Illinois |
| 9 | Haribo | Haribo | Colorado |
| 10 | Kit Kat | The Hershey Company (US license) | None |
Top 10 Halloween Candy in America for 2026
The national list ranks candies by DoorDash order volume during October 2025. Chocolate holds four of the top five places, but five of the ten are fruity or sour, and Haribo is a first-time entry. Each entry below lists the states where that candy is the standout pick, plus a bulk or Halloween-size bag for stocking up.
1. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups: No. 1 for the Third Straight Year
National rank: 1 · Maker: The Hershey Company · Standout pick in: 17 states
Reese’s has topped DoorDash’s Halloween list three years running, and it is the most locally beloved candy too. Its 17 states run from Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Virginia to Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia, then west to Montana, Utah, Oregon and Washington.
H. B. Reese, a former dairy farmer and shipping foreman for Milton Hershey, created the cups on November 15, 1928, and his sons merged the business with Hershey in 1963. Halloween gets its own shape: Reese’s Peanut Butter Pumpkins, sold mainly in September and October, launched nationally in 1993.
2. Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar: The Classic Holds Second
National rank: 2 · Maker: The Hershey Company · Standout pick in: North Carolina
The plain milk chocolate bar ranked second nationally, and North Carolina is the one state where it is the standout pick. Hershey markets it as “The Great American Chocolate Bar.”
Milton Hershey started selling the bar in November 1900, a year after developing his process to mass-produce chocolate. Bigger bars are gaining at Halloween: full and king size candy grew from over 15% to 20% of DoorDash’s Halloween candy orders, and the box below holds 36 standard 1.55-ounce bars.
3. M&M’s: Third Nationally, First in No Single State
National rank: 3 · Maker: Mars · Standout pick in: None
M&M’s placed third in national orders yet is not the standout candy in any state. That is a sign of how evenly its orders spread: no state buys it at an unusually high rate compared with everywhere else.
Mars has made M&M’s since 1941, and the two Ms stand for Forrest Mars and Bruce Murrie, son of the president of the rival Hershey Chocolate Company. About half of production happens in Hackettstown, New Jersey, and half in Cleveland, Tennessee. The Fun Size bag below holds individually wrapped pouches.
4. Snickers: The Pick in Maryland and Nevada
National rank: 4 · Maker: Mars · Standout pick in: Maryland, Nevada
Snickers ranked fourth nationally and is the standout pick in two states on opposite sides of the country, Maryland and Nevada. Its fourth place completes chocolate’s hold on four of the top five spots.
Mars introduced Snickers at its Chicago factory in 1930 and named it after the Mars family’s favorite horse. The bar layers nougat, caramel and peanuts under milk chocolate. The 60-piece variety bag below mixes Fun Size Snickers Original, Crunchy Peanut Butter and Almond bars.
5. Nerds: The Top Fruity Candy, With Haribo Closing In
National rank: 5 · Maker: Ferrara · Standout pick in: None
Nerds is the highest-ranked fruity candy at fifth, but its lead is slipping. In the three months before DoorDash published its report, Haribo passed Nerds in total orders.
Nerds launched in 1982 under the Willy Wonka Candy Company brand and is now made by Ferrara. Nerds Gummy Clusters, introduced in 2020, revived the brand: annual revenue rose from about $40 million in 2018 to more than $500 million in 2024, with Gummy Clusters making up over 90% of it. The bag below mixes 90 treat-size pouches of classic Nerds, Gummy Clusters and Big Chewy Nerds.
6. Skittles: Sixth, With No State to Call Its Own
National rank: 6 · Maker: Mars · Standout pick in: None
Skittles ranked sixth, one of five fruity or sour candies in the top 10 alongside Nerds, Airheads, Sour Patch Kids and Haribo. Like M&M’s, it is popular everywhere but over-ordered nowhere, so it leads no state.
Mars’s Wrigley division makes Skittles. The candy began in Britain in the 1970s, was widely distributed across the US by 1979 and has been made in the US since 1982. The Halloween bag below mixes Fun Size packs of Skittles and Starburst.
7. Airheads: Up Three Places, and the Pick in Florida and Texas
National rank: 7 (up from 10) · Maker: Perfetti Van Melle · Standout pick in: Florida, Texas
Airheads jumped from tenth place in DoorDash’s previous ranking to seventh, and it is also the standout pick in Florida and Texas, a chewy-taffy pairing DoorDash groups with Laffy Taffy’s five states.
Steve Bruner created Airheads on August 7, 1985. The taffy is made by Perfetti Van Melle, whose US base has been in Erlanger, Kentucky, since 1979. The bags below hold individually wrapped mini bars in six fruit flavors, which Airheads lists as gluten free and peanut free.
8. Sour Patch Kids: Sour Candy Breaks Into the Top 10
National rank: 8 · Maker: Mondelez International · Standout pick in: Connecticut, Illinois
DoorDash singles out Sour Patch Kids and Airheads as proof that sour candy is gaining ground in trick-or-treat buckets. Sour Patch Kids is the standout pick in Connecticut and Illinois.
The candy was created in the early 1970s and sold in Canada as Mars Men before it was renamed Sour Patch Kids in the mid-1980s; Mondelez International makes it today. The sour coating combines citric acid, tartaric acid and sugar. The packs below hold treat-size Halloween bags.
9. Haribo: New to the Top 10 and Still Climbing
National rank: 9 (new entry) · Maker: Haribo · Standout pick in: Colorado
Haribo cracked DoorDash’s top 10 for the first time, knocking Twix out, and DoorDash calls it the candy to watch this year after it passed Nerds in total orders over the last three months. Colorado is the one state where it is the standout pick.
Hans Riegel registered the company in Bonn, Germany, on December 13, 1920, and the name combines Hans Riegel Bonn. In 1922 he created the gummy bear that became the Goldbear, still the company’s flagship, and Haribo went nationwide in the US between 1977 and 1979. The tub below holds 100 mini bags of Goldbears made in Germany.
10. Kit Kat: Rounding Out the List
National rank: 10 · Maker: The Hershey Company (US license) · Standout pick in: None
Kit Kat closes the top 10 and, like M&M’s and Skittles, does not lead any individual state.
Rowntree’s of York launched the bar in Britain in September 1935. In the US, Hershey has made Kit Kat under a license dating to a 1970 agreement, while Nestle makes it everywhere else. The box below holds 36 individually wrapped 1.5-ounce bars.
Most Popular Halloween Candy by State: All 50 States
The state picks answer a different question from the national list. Instead of the candy each state orders most, DoorDash found the candy each state orders at a higher rate than the rest of the country. That is why a budget assortment like Sweet Smiles can lead seven states while M&M’s, third nationally, leads none.
| State | Standout Halloween candy (2026) |
|---|---|
| Alabama | Sweet Smiles Candy |
| Alaska | Lindt |
| Arizona | Red Vines |
| Arkansas | Sweet Smiles Candy |
| California | Red Vines |
| Colorado | Haribo |
| Connecticut | Sour Patch Kids |
| Delaware | Reese’s |
| Florida | Airheads |
| Georgia | Sweet Smiles Candy |
| Hawaii | Lindt |
| Idaho | SweeTarts |
| Illinois | Sour Patch Kids |
| Indiana | Reese’s |
| Iowa | Laffy Taffy |
| Kansas | SweeTarts |
| Kentucky | Reese’s |
| Louisiana | Sweet Smiles Candy |
| Maine | Reese’s |
| Maryland | Snickers |
| Massachusetts | Reese’s |
| Michigan | Reese’s |
| Minnesota | Mike and Ike |
| Mississippi | Sweet Smiles Candy |
| Missouri | Twizzlers |
| Montana | Reese’s |
| Nebraska | Laffy Taffy |
| Nevada | Snickers |
| New Hampshire | Reese’s |
| New Jersey | Reese’s |
| New Mexico | SweeTarts |
| New York | Kinder Bueno |
| North Carolina | Hershey’s Bar |
| North Dakota | Laffy Taffy |
| Ohio | Reese’s |
| Oklahoma | SweeTarts |
| Oregon | Reese’s |
| Pennsylvania | Reese’s |
| Rhode Island | Kinder Bueno |
| South Carolina | Sweet Smiles Candy |
| South Dakota | Laffy Taffy |
| Tennessee | Sweet Smiles Candy |
| Texas | Airheads |
| Utah | Reese’s |
| Vermont | Reese’s |
| Virginia | Reese’s |
| Washington | Reese’s |
| West Virginia | Reese’s |
| Wisconsin | Laffy Taffy |
| Wyoming | Twizzlers |
DoorDash’s map covers the 50 states and does not break out Washington, D.C., separately.
Regional Halloween Candy Favorites: Where Each Pick Leads
Grouped by candy, the map splits into a few clear blocs:
- Reese’s (17 states): Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.
- Sweet Smiles Candy (7): Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee, a budget assortment with a little of everything.
- Laffy Taffy (5): Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
- SweeTarts (4): Idaho, Kansas, New Mexico and Oklahoma.
- Two-state picks: Airheads (Florida, Texas), Red Vines (Arizona, California), Twizzlers (Missouri, Wyoming), Kinder Bueno (New York, Rhode Island), Lindt (Alaska, Hawaii), Snickers (Maryland, Nevada) and Sour Patch Kids (Connecticut, Illinois).
- One-state picks: Haribo (Colorado), Hershey’s Bar (North Carolina) and Mike and Ike (Minnesota).
Some picks line up with where the candy is made. Red Vines, California’s favorite with Arizona, comes from the American Licorice Company factory in Union City, California. Twizzlers is made by Hershey’s Y&S Candies division in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and has been produced since 1929. Mike and Ike, Minnesota’s solo pick, has been made by Just Born of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, since 1940.
The licorice split is the most striking: Arizona and California chose Red Vines, while Missouri and Wyoming went with Twizzlers. Laffy Taffy and SweeTarts, both Ferrara brands, account for nine states between them, and Kinder Bueno, a Ferrero wafer launched in 1990, leads in New York and Rhode Island.
CandyStore.com’s 17-Year Sales Map Put M&M’s First
CandyStore.com, an online bulk candy retailer, ranks Halloween candy a different way. Its October 2024 state map counted pounds sold in the months before Halloween from 2007 to 2023, and by that measure M&M’s took first place nationally, beating Reese’s Cups for the first time in its rankings. Sour Patch Kids rose to third, candy corn reached seventh and Butterfinger entered the top 10.
Because it measures total pounds rather than which candy a state over-orders, its state picks differ from DoorDash’s. California’s top seller was M&M’s at 1,375,652 pounds, Texas’s was Sour Patch Kids at 973,833 pounds and Pennsylvania’s was M&M’s at 255,991 pounds. It also covered Washington, D.C., where M&M’s led with 25,951 pounds in the 2024 edition.
Halloween Candy Spending in 2026: $4.1 Billion
The National Retail Federation’s 2026 Halloween survey expects Halloween spending to reach $13.5 billion in 2026, holding at the level of 2025’s record $13.1 billion. Candy is the most common purchase, planned by 96% of Halloween shoppers, and here is how the main categories compare:
- Candy: $4.1 billion, up from $3.9 billion in 2025, bought by 96% of shoppers.
- Decorations: $4.3 billion, bought by 78%.
- Costumes: $4.4 billion, bought by 71%, including $1.5 billion on children’s costumes and $2 billion on adults’.
- Greeting cards: $0.8 billion, bought by 42%, up from 38% in 2025.
- Per person: $115.14 on average, in line with $114.45 in 2025.
Handing out candy is the most popular way to celebrate, planned by 61% of consumers, ahead of dressing in costume at 50%. Spider-Man is the top children’s costume, with 4.6 million kids expected to wear it (our Halloween costume guide has more ideas), and 42% plan to carve pumpkins, so a pumpkin carving guide is worth a look before October 31. NRF surveyed 7,889 consumers from September 1 to 9, and 74% plan to celebrate this year.
Candy prices have stopped climbing for now. The Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index for candy and chewing gum stood 0.5% lower in August 2026 than a year earlier, though it was still about 38% above its August 2020 level.
The National Confectioners Association’s 2026 survey found 81% of Americans plan to take part in Halloween and 85% will celebrate by sharing treats with trick-or-treaters. Chocolate is the season’s top treat, followed by gummy candy, hard candy and candy corn, and more than one in four shoppers buy Halloween treats before October.
Halloween Candy Trends for 2026: Sour, Retro and King Size
Beyond the rankings, DoorDash’s October 2025 orders show where the candy bowl is heading:
- Old-school candy is back: Circus Peanuts orders rose 350%, Lemonhead 200%, Bit-O-Honey 180% and Dum-Dums 100%.
- The candies people love to hate are growing: candy corn orders rose 30% year over year and raisins 60%.
- Bigger bars: full and king size candy grew from over 15% to 20% of orders.
- Spicy beats salty: Takis replaced pretzels and Goldfish as the top non-candy Halloween treat.
- Last-minute buying: orders on Halloween morning between 7 and 10 a.m. nearly double a normal Friday, then peak at 6 p.m. as bowls run low.
Candy corn splits opinion even in how it is eaten. In NCA’s survey, 60% of Americans eat a piece in one bite, 28% start with the narrow white end and 12% with the wider yellow end. The candy itself dates to the 1880s, when George Renninger of the Wunderle Candy Company invented it, and Ferrara’s Brach’s is now the largest maker.
Checking the Trick-or-Treat Haul: FDA Safety Steps
Whatever ends up in the bucket, the FDA recommends a few checks before children dig in:
- Eat first: give children a light meal or snack before they head out, and ask them to wait until they are home to eat any treats.
- Wrapped only: children should not accept or eat anything that is not commercially wrapped.
- Inspect wrappers: throw away treats with an unusual appearance, discoloration, tiny pinholes or tears.
- Allergies: check labels for the allergen and skip home-baked goods.
- Choking hazards: for very young children, remove gum, peanuts, hard candies and small toys.
Parents tend to inspect thoroughly: the NCA survey found 83% of parents admit to sneaking chocolate and candy from their children’s trick-or-treat haul.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most popular Halloween candy in 2026?
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are the most popular Halloween candy in 2026, ranking first in DoorDash’s national orders for the third year in a row. Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bars rank second and M&M’s third, and Reese’s is also the standout pick in 17 states.
What is the most popular Halloween candy in Texas and California?
In DoorDash’s 2026 state map, Airheads is the standout Halloween candy in Texas, a pick it shares with Florida, and Red Vines leads in California, as it does in Arizona. These are the candies each state orders at a higher rate than the rest of the country.
How much will Americans spend on Halloween candy in 2026?
The National Retail Federation expects Americans to spend $4.1 billion on Halloween candy in 2026, up from $3.9 billion in 2025, with 96% of Halloween shoppers planning to buy candy. Total Halloween spending is forecast at $13.5 billion.
Is candy corn still popular for Halloween?
Yes. DoorDash’s candy corn orders rose 30% year over year, and NCA’s survey ranks candy corn as the fourth favorite Halloween treat after chocolate, gummy candy and hard candy. Most people, 60%, eat it in one bite.
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- History of Halloween: From Samhain Bonfires to Trick-or-Treat
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