Candy Coated Conflict: Which Halloween Candies Are Really The Favorites In Illinois And Iowa?

It's the season that you will lose a limb if you steal your sibling's Reeses.

As many of us think Reeses are indeed among the top-tier Halloween candy, that's not the fight at hand. Studies show a bunch of stuff and now, we have conflicting results on the Midwest's favorite Halloween candy.

Challenger #1: DoorDash

In one corner we have results from DoorDash that show Illinois and Iowa's favorite Halloween candies. That study looked at DoorDash orders placed from October 1, 2024-October 31, 2024. It found that Reese's and M&M's are the top 2 national favorite Halloween candies, both results that sound feasible.

Back in the day (the 1930's day), Reeses were called 'Penny Cups' because they only cost a cent back then. Similar to Reeses' timeframe, M&M's have been around since the 1940's and are named after the two candymakers Forrest Mars and Bruce Murrie.

But according to the DoorDash numbers, Illinois' favorite are Twizzlers Twists and Iowa's favorite are Laffy Taffys.

No hate on either, I'd be fine with those in my pumpkin pail (especially banana Laffy Taffys) but are they the elite candy?

Challenger #2: Google Trends

And in the other corner are Google Trends numbers from the past 5 years, as compiled by Apt 2B.

This study found that Illinois' favorites are M&M's and Iowa's favorites are Crunch bars. In my chocolate-preferred opinion, these seem more likely.

The Google Trends numbers show that actually M&M's are the country's most popular Halloween candy, followed by Sour Patch Kids and Nerds. Which are also great tier candy.

Here's a fun fact if your kids have any leftover chocolate, like Hershey's Kisses or a Hershey's milk chocolate bar: they pair well with a Zinfandel.