A hot summer day calls for a cold scoop of ice cream! Whether you eat it straight out of the carton, scoop it onto a sugar cone, blend it up in a milkshake, or drown it in chocolate sauce and rainbow sprinkles, ice cream always hits the spot in the summertime. Refreshing, nostalgic, and endlessly customizable, this frozen treat has earned its title as the ultimate summer dessert!
While ice cream is an undeniable crowd-pleaser, there’s cross-country debate over which flavor is the best of them all. After Innerbody Research analyzed Google Trends search data on 50 ice cream flavors from April 2025 to April 2026, they got the scoop on the most and least popular flavors, both locally and nationally. The team drew a map to illustrate the results, and while every state has a particular preference, there’s a clear winner across the regions: strawberry. From California and Nevada on the West Coast to Maryland and Connecticut on the East Coast, strawberry is the most loved ice cream flavor.
Other decades-long favorites—chocolate chip, cookie dough, chocolate, and vanilla (ranked in that order)—repeatedly showed up across the map. While chocolate chip and cookie dough are both considered upgraded versions of chocolate and vanilla, respectively, many states actually prefer the elevated takes on the originals, such as Missouri and Massachusetts as fans of the former, then Montana and New Hampshire of the latter.
Still, some states are sticking with the classics: Midwestern states like Wisconsin and Illinois seem to be chocoholics, while Wyoming and Idaho in the West are also purists who prefer vanilla. And then there’s Ree Drummond’s home state of Oklahoma—folks in the Sooner State would rather enjoy all the quintessential flavors in one scoop, since Neapolitan ice cream (which has layers of vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry) is the favorite!
Since these conventional ice cream flavors have been around for years, it’s no surprise that most states gravitate toward them. That said, plenty of other unique options also popped up in the results. For a handful of states, particularly in the South, birthday cake is the top choice. Then, there are one-off flavors that have stolen hearts, such as lavender in Oregon, matcha in Kansas, and pumpkin in West Virginia. With peach in South Carolina, blueberry in Maine, and coconut in Hawaii, some states rely on their region’s local flavors when it comes to their ice cream orders.
The most specific flavors in the study didn’t show up on the map, not necessarily because they’re unpopular, but because they’re the most limited and least universal. Mango, for instance, might be a well-loved fruit, but the ice cream flavor isn’t a standard option with most brands. Blue Moon is another distinctive ice cream flavor that might be familiar in the Midwest, but in other parts of the country, it’s mostly unknown.
Whether or not your favorite ice cream flavor is on this map, take it as your sign to grab a cone and serve yourself a scoop!
Lilly Blomquist is the associate editor at The Pioneer Woman, where she writes lifestyle stories across a wide range of topics—including news, entertainment, holidays, food, and more.
