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Just in time for National Ice Cream Day on July 19, Instacart dug into a year of ice cream orders to find the flavors and brands filling carts in California, along with the delightfully regional tastes across America.
Ice cream occupies a rare sweet spot in the grocery aisle: It’s nearly universal in appeal yet deeply individual in taste. Ask 10 people their favorite flavor, and you’ll get 10 different answers.
In order to map the country’s sweet tooth, Instacart purchase data from 2025 was used to see how Americans stocked their pints and tubs, tracking which classics held the line, which newer brands surged, and which scoop each state reaches for more than anyone else.
Key Takeaways
- Vanilla is untouchable. It’s America’s most-ordered flavor, accounting for about 21% of all ice cream orders, and the single most popular pick in every one of the 50 states and D.C.
- Häagen-Dazs tops the brands. At roughly 24% of orders, it edges out Ben & Jerry’s, with Breyers rounding out the top three.
- Every region has a signature scoop: rocky road out West, coffee across New England, and butter pecan in the South.
- Hometown dairies win locally. Tillamook is the brand the West favors most, Blue Bell rules the South, and Blue Bunny owns the Plains.
- Better-for-you is booming. The fastest-growing brands are premium, better-for-you pints, led by Alec’s Ice Cream, Rebel, and Van Leeuwen.
Instacart
California’s signature scoop is rocky road
Vanilla is the most popular flavor in every state hands down, so to find each state’s true personality, Instacart asked a different question: Which flavor is unique to each state, claiming a bigger share of local orders than it does nationally?
The answer draws a surprisingly tidy map. The West runs on rocky road, while coffee percolates across New England, Oregon, New Mexico, and Hawai’i. The South has a soft spot for butter pecan, the mid-Atlantic reaches for mint chocolate chip, and the Heartland stays loyal to good old vanilla.
The real fun, though, is in the one-off favorites.
- Wisconsin, true to its dairy-state roots, goes all in on Moose Tracks, the fudge-and-peanut-butter-cup classic with Midwestern origins.
- Tennessee has a singular soft spot for cheesecake, the only state where the dessert-in-a-tub tops the list.
- And out in the Mountain West, cherry reigns in both Colorado and Wyoming, a pairing that hints at a shared regional taste for something bright and a little old-fashioned.
None of these would crack a national to