Your State's Top-Selling Halloween Candy May Come As A Major Surprise

It's that time of year again, when people drop a ridiculous amount of cash to give candy to children they don't know, while parents send said kids out to collect sweet stuff from strangers. So, basically, the best time of year. Whether you're stocking up on snack-size chocolate bars to offer friends at your Halloween bash or you're aiming to be one of the homes the neighborhood kids know to hit up for the good stuff, Candystore.com has the answers as to what sweets people in your area like best.

The candy wholesaler tallied up 11 years of info (from 2007-2017) to compile its list of 2018's most popular Halloween candy in America, which it has carefully organized into the top three candies sold in each state. This is no small feat, mind you, as we're talking about what people will spend an estimated $2.6 million on this year. Peep their fancy interactive map here:

The results are a little surprising, especially to those of us who carefully hoarded chocolate bars and turned our noses up at hard candies and even harder bubble gum. Do the kids in six states really prefer candy corn over Reese's Peanut Butter Cups? How is it that Hot Tamales top so many more lists than Butterfingers? And did only the children of Mississippi learn from Stranger Things the amazing, underrated value of a Three Musketeers bar? But there's a big, juicy caveat to these numbers you may have noticed: These are the most candies sold in each state. This isn't a bunch of statisticians surveying kids on November 1 to see which candies they plan on eating first, and which ones they'll be leaving at the bottom of their hollowed-out plastic gourds until they're desperate. So maybe there are more grownups looking for the better deal on salt water taffy in Nebraska and Tootsie Pops in Minnesota, while the folks in Missouri and Maryland are springing for Milky Ways. Meanwhile, Maine and New York kids are roaming the streets full of Sour Patch Kids, so watch out.

Here are the state-by-state rankings:

The biggest mystery of this list, though, is what exactly is going on with this country that the top candy nationwide was Skittles? Is it successful advertising? Pride? A secret cabal of dentists eager to get that sugar stuck between kids' teeth? I'm possibly just prejudiced against the things after that time I was seven and wanted to see what they would taste like in milk. Do not taste that rainbow, ever.