United State's Favorite Junk Food By State 2023

National Junk Food Day rolls around once a year and it's certainly a day worth celebrating. Landing on July 21st every year, it offers us a dedicated day to kick our diets to the curb and enjoy the snacks and junk that we usually feel too guilty to indulge in. It was first coined way back in the 1950s and celebrates all food high in fats, sugar, salt, carbs, and calories. All the good stuff. It truly is a day to leave the rabbit food in the fridge and chow down on your favorite treats.

But with that in mind, the research and analytics team at Casinos.com took a quick break from testing US online casinos because we wanted to find out what the USA's favorite snack food was, alongside data for each US state. For the purposes of this research, we left out fast food restaurants such as McDonald's, Burger King, and KFC as they are worthy of their own bespoke nationally celebrated day (National Fast Food Day, November 16). Likewise, we didn't include drinks or sodas, and basically, anything you can consider healthy.

Sour Patch Kids emerged as the nation's favorite snack. Likewise, Skittles, Pringles, and Starburst all performed well in the 2023 study.  Oreos will be disappointed with their showing, but Kit Kat will be pleased to have been the most heavily featured chocolate bar. 

The interactive map above gives a full representation of what is each state's favorite snack/junk food. Simply hover over your state of choice for a full view of their top three favorite snacks in order.

What Junk Food Reigns Supreme in the US

There were a couple of high performers, most notably Sour Patch Kids which was the runaway favorite having been featured as 7 states' favorite snack. Likewise, Animal Crackers (5) and Kit Kat (5) both performed well in the research.

Who loves Sour Patch Kids the most - Arizona, California, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan and North Carolina

Pringles appear 12 times in states' top three snack foods topped only by Starburst with 13. Sour Patch Kids (12), and Skittles (11) all heavily in the mix for the nation's favorite snacks.

Reese's only appeared once in the entire list, coming in as Ohio's favorite junk food. No other state had this snack in its top three.

Swedish Fish was Pennsylvania's favorite junk food, with Rhode Island also fans of the confectionary but nowhere else has a taste for the cherry-flavored sweets.

Oreos were surprising underperformers, with Iowa the only state favoring the classic cookie.

Methodology:

We used Google Trends to measure the level of interest in 32 of the nation's favorite junk food/snacks. Fast food restaurants were excluded, with this study instead referring to snacks available to purchase in stores. Sodas and chewing gum were also excluded.

• Data was collected over a 12-month period from July 17, 2022 - July 16, 2023

In the case where a state had equal levels of interest for multiple snacks, search volumes for each item using semrush were measured in that area to determine a favorite.

What is Each US States' Top Three Favorite Junk Foods

• Alabama - Butterfinger, Skittles, Pringles
• Alaska - Fruit Roll Up, Gummy Bears, Chips Ahoy!
• Arizona - Sour Patch Kids, Funyuns, Nerds
• Arkansas - Doritos, Skittles, Milk Duds
• California - Sour Patch Kids, Kit Kat, Ruffles
• Colorado - Gummy Bears, Skittles, Pringles
• Connecticut - Granola Bar, Sour Patch Kids, Nerds
• Delaware - Sour Patch Kids, Nerds, Chips Ahoy!
• District of Columbia - Starburst, Sour Patch Kids, Nerds
• Florida - Nerds, Fruit Roll Up, Oreos
• Georgia - Milk Duds, Skittles, Sour Patch Kids
• Hawaii - Gummy Bears, Kit Kat, Nerds
• Idaho - Skittles, Gummy Bears, Twinkie
• Illinois - Pringles, Sour Patch Kids, Milk Duds
• Indiana - Pringles, Sour Patch Kids, Twinkie
• Iowa - Oreos, Starburst, Twinkie
• Kansas - Cheez-It, Skittles, Animal Crackers
• Kentucky - Butterfinger, Animal Crackers, Starburst
• Louisiana - Fruit Roll Up, Milk Duds, Skittles
• Maine - Animal Crackers, Kit Kat, Pringles
• Maryland - Sour Patch Kids, Pringles, Starburst
• Massachusetts - Sour Patch Kids, Starburst, Kit Kat
• Michigan - Sour Patch Kids, Starburst, Pringles
• Minnesota - Starburst, Kit Kat, Pringles
• Mississippi - Ruffles, Butterfinger, Funyuns
• Missouri - Animal Crackers, Pringles, Starburst
• Montana - Pringles, Skittles, Starburst
• Nebraska - Skittles, Starburst, Milk Duds
• Nevada - Kit Kat, Ruffles, Sour Patch Kids
• New Hampshire - Milky Way, Sour Patch Kids, Kit Kat
• New Jersey - Chips Ahoy!, Kit Kat, Sour Patch Kids
• New Mexico - Beef Jerky, FRITOS, Funyuns
• New York - Kit Kat, Sour Patch Kids, Pringles
• North Carolina - Sour Patch Kids, Nerds, Milk Duds
• North Dakota - Twizzlers, Starburst, Kit Kat
• Ohio - Reese's, Sour Patch Kids, Skittles
• Oklahoma - Cheez-It, Pringles, Skittles
• Oregon - Kit Kat, Pringles, Twinkie
• Pennsylvania - Swedish Fish, Animal Cracker, Twizzlers
• Rhode Island - Animal Crackers, Swedish Fish, M&Ms
• South Carolina - Nerds, Skittles, Pringles
• South Dakota - Baby Ruth, 3 Musketeers, Snickers
• Tennessee - Butterfinger, Sour Patch Kids, Starburst
• Texas - Funyuns, Whatchamacallit, Sour Patch Kids
• Utah - Pringles, Gummy Bears, Kit Kat
• Vermont - Animal Crackers, M&Ms, Starburst
• Virginia - Nerds, Kit Kat, Sour Patch Kids
• Washington - Kit Kat, Pringles, Starburst
• West Virginia - Animal Cracker, Kit Kat, Doritos
• Wisconsin - M&Ms, Cheddar Goldfish, Animal Cracker
• Wyoming - Twinkie, Twix, Skittles