Halloween is creeping closer, so whether you’re planning to buy candy for your little ghouls and goblins, yourself or to hand out to trick-or-treaters, listen up.

The average American spends $23 on candy and buys around two bags of it for Halloween, so it might be helpful to know what candy Chicagoans & Illinois prefer during this spook-tacular season.

WGN News Now looked at a pair of studies to hopefully aid in your decison making when candy shopping.

WHAT WE LOVE

Byte.com, a cosmetic dentistry website, says Illinois’ favorite Halloween candy is Tootsie Rolls.

As for the faves of neighboring states, Indiana likes Butterfingers, Wisconsin favorites Candy Corn, Iowa loves Reese’s, Missouri favorites Nerds and Michigan loves Reese’s.

Byte.com researchers used google search trends data and interviewed more than 1,000 Americans to come up with their results.

The results are different though when you look at candystore.com‘s Halloween candy survey.

Their research found people in the ‘Land of Lincoln’ prefer Sour Patch Kids, followed by Kit Kats and then Starbursts.

Results were also different for our neighbors, the candystore.com survey found the most popular Halloween candy in Indiana is Starbursts, Iowans love M&M’s, Wisconsin favors Butterfingers, Missouri loves Milky Way bars, and Michigan likes Starbursts.

Candy Store researchers looked at 15 years of sales data, from 2007-2021, for their findings.

WHAT WE HATE

According to Byte.com, Chicagoans really don’t like candy corn!

In fact, researchers say Chicago is fourth on the list of cities that “hate candy corn with a passion!” with only New York, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia hating candy corn more than the “Windy City”.

They discovered 34% of Americans hate the tri-colored candy, 22% love it and 44% are indifferent.

The most candy corn-obsessed city in the country is Las Vegas, followed by Denver, Seattle, Baltimore and Portland.

It should also be noted that one in three Americans admit they eat most of the candy they planned to give away, and more than 50% of parents hide Halloween candy so they can enjoy it later the year.

So, when you think about it, you’re not really buying candy for the kids, it’s for the “big kids”… a.ka. parents!