Americans bought more candy last year than ever before, and the numbers tell a more interesting story than just “people love sugar.” According to the confectionery industry’s own trade group, total sales hit a record high in 2025, but the mix of what’s actually landing in shopping carts is quietly changing — a shift that’s worth knowing about before Halloween candy bowls get filled this year.
A Record $55 Billion Year
The National Confectioners Association reported that U.S. confectionery sales climbed to $55 billion in 2025, a record for the industry. The trade group’s 2026 State of Treating report, compiled with retail data firm Circana and market research from Euromonitor, projects sales will keep climbing to roughly $62.2 billion by 2030. Perhaps the most striking number in the whole report: 99.8% of American households bought some form of candy or chocolate at least once during the year, according to the NCA’s own release.
“Americans today are making their purchase decisions with greater intention,” said John Downs, president and CEO of the National Confectioners Association, in the association’s statement. Chocolate and candy, he added, “continue to earn their place in the basket” even as shoppers get pickier about where their grocery dollars go.
Chocolate Still Wins, But the Gap Is Closing
Chocolate remains the bigger category, accounting for 51.7% of total confectionery sales in 2025, per the NCA’s data. But non-chocolate candy — think gummies, sours, hard candy, and licorice — has been steadily eating into that lead. Non-chocolate now makes up 40.9% of the market, up from roughly a third of sales back in 2015. That’s a meaningful long-term shift in a category that used to be dominated almost entirely by chocolate bars and boxed assortments.
Part of the pull is generational. Gen Z and millennial shoppers are gravitating toward gummy, chewy, and even freeze-dried candy formats over traditional chocolate bars, according to the same NCA report — a preference that’s nudging manufacturers to expand those product lines rather than lean solely on classic chocolate offerings.
Freeze-dried candy in particular has gone from a niche novelty to a real shelf presence over the past couple of years, and the NCA’s own data backs up what a lot of shoppers have already noticed in stores: crunchy, freeze-dried versions of gummy bears and Skittles-style candies sitting right next to the traditional bags. That kind of texture play is exactly the sort of thing that tends to appeal to younger shoppers who grew up discovering candy trends online rather than just at the checkout aisle, and it’s part of why non-chocolate’s market share keeps climbing instead of leveling off.
Where the Growth Is Headed Next
The NCA isn’t projecting a slowdown either. Its forecast has total confectionery sales climbing from $55 billion in 2025 to roughly $62.2 billion by 2030 — a $7.2 billion increase over five years, according to the association’s own report. That steady, incremental growth pattern suggests the industry isn’t betting on any single blockbuster product to drive sales, but rather on the combination of near-universal household penetration and a widening menu of formats — chocolate, gummy, sour, and freeze-dried alike — that keeps different generations of shoppers reaching for candy for different reasons.
Why Halloween Still Matters So Much
Seasonal buying remains the backbone of the entire industry. The NCA’s data shows that the “big four” candy seasons — Valentine’s Day, Easter, Halloween, and the winter holidays — together account for 63% of all confectionery sales for the year. Halloween sits squarely among those four, meaning the weeks leading up to October 31 represent one of the single biggest stretches of candy buying most households will do all year.
That seasonal weight is exactly why the chocolate-versus-non-chocolate shift matters heading into this Halloween. If non-chocolate candy keeps gaining ground the way it has since 2015, this year’s trick-or-treat bowls and Halloween party tables are likely to look noticeably different than they did a decade ago — more sour gummies and chewy assortments mixed in alongside the fun-size chocolate bars that used to dominate the bowl.
What It Means for Your Halloween Shopping List
For anyone stocking up for trick-or-treaters this year, the data suggests it’s worth hedging your bets rather than buying an all-chocolate assortment out of habit. A mixed bag that includes gummies and chewy candy alongside classic chocolate options lines up with where actual household spending has been heading for the past decade. It also reflects something bigger happening across the grocery aisle generally: even in a category as beloved and recession-resistant as candy, consumer tastes keep shifting, and the companies — and shoppers — paying attention to that shift are the ones staying ahead of it.
With almost every household in America buying candy at some point during the year, according to the NCA’s own figures, this isn’t a niche trend to track. It’s a preview of what’s likely to be sitting in the checkout aisle candy display for the next several Halloweens to come.
