Popular halloween candy by region

In fact, Hot Tamales, a soft, chewy candy with a cinnamon zing, ranks number five in sales in the U.S., according to CandyStore.com. Alamy Stock Photo SOUTH (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia,

West Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Washington, D.C.) With 16 states plus the

District of Columbia, the South is the largest region, and its preferences are evenly distributed between chocolates and sweets. Reese’s Cups is number one in Kentucky, North Carolina and

Florida. Turns out that marrying chocolate and peanut butter has been a great idea since 1928, when Harry Burnett Reese, a former Hershey’s employee, invented the peanut butter cup.

Today it’s the biggest-selling Halloween candy in the U.S. While the rest of the Southern states go for the hard, sweet and tart candies like Starbursts and Skittles, Georgia is an outlier,

purchasing an average of 136,319 pounds a year of Swedish Fish. Eric Hyman, 60, a marketing executive living in suburban Atlanta, was surprised that’s the top seller. “We always hoarded

our kids’ Milky Ways,” he says. Alamy Stock Photo WEST (Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Hawaii) Jill Tomac, 52,

president of the Leadership Resource Group and a resident of Newport Beach, California, says her two children, ages 13 and 16, still love trick-or-treating, particularly on nearby

Balboa Island. “They take Halloween very seriously over there — inflatables, lights, haunted houses, moving figurines. — and the candy is outrageous, the giant $1 bars,” says Tomac, who

like many parents pares down her kids’ haul, restricting them to 20 pieces each. She admits to saving a few pieces for herself — chocolate, of course. “Reese’s is my favorite,” she says,

“with Snickers close behind.” Tomac joins the rest of California, which, along with Wyoming, opens its wallet most eagerly for Reese’s Cups. Preferences in the region’s other 11 states

are a mixed bag, split between candies like Starburst, Sour Patch Kids and Jolly Ranchers and chocolates like Hershey’s Kisses, M&M’s and Mini Bars. Montana is the big surprise, opening

wide for Dubble Bubble gum. If you’re looking for full-sized candy bars, make a stop in Oregon, where those are the norm, according to Candy Store.com. THE SKINNY ON CANDY CORN People

everywhere have strong feelings about candy corn, which has been around since the 1880s and even has its own day: October 30 is National Candy Corn Day. Devotees like Howard Solomon, 56, a

writing and creative consultant in Rochester, NewYork, make a ritual of how they consume the sweet tricolored treat. The NCA says that 52 percent of people eat the whole piece at once,

while 31 percent start with the narrow white end and 17 percent start with the wider yellow end.