Here Are the Most Popular Ice Cream Flavors in Every State, According to Instacart
Raise your hand if your favorite ice cream flavor is cookie dough! What about pistachio? Maybe coffee? Your answer might say more about you than you even know, according to a recent study from Instacart.
The most popular ice cream flavor in the United States is pretty easy to guess: Per Instacart, more than a quarter of all the ice cream they sell is vanilla. But that doesn’t mean the whole country has plain tastes in their frozen sweets. That’s why, for National Ice Cream Day (July 18!), the grocery delivery service used their sales data for thousands of different ice cream products around the country to take a state-by-state look at which flavors of ice cream each state purchased the most relative to the national average — meaning it isn’t necessarily what sells best, but what sells better in that state than anywhere else.
As always, there are some highlights. Hawaii and Washington, D.C. showed their love for mango ice cream. Cookie dough, rainbow sherbet, and birthday cake were all popular in a variety of places, but only three states branched out on their own and chose something uniquely popular: Delaware with its predilection for cherry, Pennsylvania with mint chip, and New Mexico with chocolate chocolate chip.
The most popular flavor in a dozen states is moose tracks. The original version uses a base of vanilla ice cream and mixes in peanut butter cups and fudge. The ice cream flavor was invented in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and in other parts of the country it sells as bear tracks, elk tracks, or any other large animal’s tracks (but just enjoy the cool treat and don’t think too hard about what the name might imply). Ready for the full list? Here it is!
- Alabama – Moose Tracks
- Alaska – Green Tea
- Arizona – Rocky Road
- Arkansas – Rainbow Sherbet
- California – Rocky Road
- Colorado – Green Tea
- Connecticut – Pistachio
- Delaware – Cherry
- Florida – Rum Raisin
- Georgia – Rum Raisin
- Hawaii – Mango
- Idaho – Green Tea
- Illinois – Moose Tracks
- Indiana – Moose Tracks
- Iowa – Moose Tracks
- Kansas – Rainbow Sherbet
- Kentucky – Chocolate Chip
- Louisiana – Birthday Cake
- Maine – Coffee
- Maryland – Cookie Dough
- Massachusetts – Coffee
- Michigan – Moose Tracks
- Minnesota – Moose Tracks
- Mississippi – Birthday Cake
- Missouri – Cookie Dough
- Montana – Rainbow Sherbet
- Nebraska – Moose Tracks
- Nevada – Rocky Road
- New Hampshire – Coffee
- New Jersey – Pistachio
- New Mexico – Chocolate Chocolate Chip
- New York – Pistachio
- North Carolina – Birthday Cake
- North Dakota – Moose Tracks
- Ohio – Chocolate Chip
- Oklahoma – Cookie Dough
- Oregon – Green Tea
- Pennsylvania – Mint Chip
- Rhode Island – Coffee
- South Carolina – Moose Tracks
- South Dakota – Birthday Cake
- Tennessee – Moose Tracks
- Texas – Rainbow Sherbet
- Utah – Rocky Road
- Vermont – Coffee
- Virginia – Birthday Cake
- Washington – Green Tea
- Washington, D.C. – Mango
- West Virginia – Moose Tracks
- Wisconsin – Moose Tracks
- Wyoming – Rocky Road
Does the ice cream for your state make sense? Let us know in the comments!