Candy corn is delicious and we have the data to back it! Okay, we don’t, but it’s still great. Welcome to the candy edition of Data Drop.
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🍬 The sweet life
‘Tis the season for candy. Halloween is around the corner and your kids are probably already dressed up.
Candy is a big deal, especially seasonally. The candy industry has been very valuable for a long, long time. It’s probably because we all love sugar. Humans and sugar -- a match made in heaven (until you have too much, of course).
We thought it would be a fun data dive to look at candy. How much are we spending, eating, throwing into bags, and which candies do we love and hate the most? We won’t sugarcoat it!
🍭 Candy industry, by the numbers
The candy industry is strong. According to Candy USA, the candy business employs nearly 700,000, between direct candy jobs and indirect, like suppliers.
It all amounts to a $49 billion economic output, $10.5B in wages and $13.7B in taxes. That’s a life saver.
In Michigan alone, candy drives $196 million in wages, employs nearly 5,000 and clocks in with a $715 million economic output. Not too shabby!
🎃 Spending on candy, Halloween
In 2019, Americans spent an estimated $2.6 billion on candy, just for Halloween. If you’re like me, you just buy more so you can eat whatever is left after trick-or-treaters.
This Halloween, consumer spending on Halloween-related items is expected to reach an all-time high of $10.14 billion — up from $8.05 billion in 2020. It’s also higher than 2019′s $8.8 billion.
This includes $3 billion on candy alone. That’s a 20% increase over last year and 10% over the previous all time high
On average, consumers plan to spend $102.74 on costumes, candy, decorations and greeting cards — $10 more than they planned to spend last year, according to estimates by the National Retail Federation.
Related: Survey results: Most people celebrating Halloween this year, going trick-or-treating
These numbers are more than double what they were just 15 years ago, when average spend was $48. Check out this trend:
Broken down by item, candy comes in third for expense, behind costumes and decoration. That makes sense. Here’s a spooky bar chart from NRF:
This year consumers are shopping for Halloween items earlier than ever, with 45 percent planning to shop in September or earlier and another 39 percent during the first two weeks of October.
Related: Americans forecasted to spend $10B on Halloween this year
🍫 What we love and hate
Okay, it’s time to get controversial.
Every Halloween, we get some data that claims to show the hottest candy in every state. In Michigan, it’s typically candy corn. It causes a big uproar, despite the fact that candy corn is elite. This year, we’ve got a new candy on top.
CandyStore.com published the latest candy data by state, and in Michigan -- it’s Starburst. I’m not sure if this is less controversial or not, but candy corn finished in second place, followed by Skittles in third place.
According to the candy site, Michigan bought 110K pounds of Starburst, 98K pounds of candy corn, and 95K pounds of Skittles last year. Texas, Alabama, Indiana and Idaho joined Michigan on team Starburst.
I’d just like to note that Ohio’s top candy was Blow Pops. Are you kidding me? Ohio.... just stop.
And in case you’re wondering, as ranked by CheatSheet, the most hated Halloween candies are:
- Circus peanuts
- Wax Coke Bottles
- Candy corn (blasphemous)
- Necco Wafers
- Tootsie Rolls
- Smarties
- Jujubes
- Bit-O-Honey
🎃 Happy Halloween season to you all, and may you enjoy your favorite candies in peace. Enjoy!
💻 Our digits
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- Ken Haddad, ClickOnDetroit data team
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