Where Does Massachusetts Rank as an Ice Cream State?

Fact Checked by Pat McLoone

Spring has sprung, summer will be here soon, and temperatures across Massachusetts are heating up

Along with warmer weather, ice cream sales are expected to heat up as well.

Soft serve or hard, chocolate or vanilla, one scoop or five — we all scream for ice cream. But what American state loves ice cream the most?

To celebrate the exciting times ahead — including summer, but also the official launch of in-state legal Massachusetts sports betting — BetMassachusetts.com decided to rank the most ice cream crazy states across the nation.

To do so, we used Google Trends to determine the search volume for ice cream, as well as popular flavors of ice cream, in each state between April 21, 2022 and April 21, 2023. A point system was created, assigning a rating between 1 and 50 for overall ice cream searches, as well as searches for the top three flavors: chocolate, vanilla and strawberry.

After we added up the numbers, here are some results you won’t find on any Massachusetts betting apps:

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Most Ice Cream Crazy States

Rank, state Overall search volume Chocolate Vanilla Strawberry Total
1 New Hampshire50463245173
2 Utah 40454726158
3 Delaware38474918152
4 Connecticut47353237151
5 Maine49374220148
6 Massachusetts48412132142
T7 Maryland37283439138
T7 New Jersey43422825138
9 Michigan41362529131
10 South Carolina42251548130
11 Ohio44401131126
12 Pennsylvania46392015120
13 Indiana35232126105
14 Illinois392993592
15 Rhode Island451329491
16 New York361881375

 

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Scooping Up Some of the Data

New Hampshire, with its small-but-mighty dairy industry, ranks No. 1, but Massachusetts still does well. Although it is ranked No. 6, the Bay State is actually third in overall ice cream search volume, but an apparent disdain for vanilla really drove down its overall score. It would appear that chocolate is the favorite flavor of the three.

But for the state’s many ice cream lovers, there’s no shortage of varieties, with several noteworthy boutique ice cream shops scattered across Massachusetts.

One favorite is Toscanini’s in Cambridge. A multiple winner for “Best Ice Cream” in Boston Magazine’s annual “Best of Boston” awards, Toscanini’s was also heralded as “the world’s best ice cream” by the New York Times.

Another legendary Massachusetts ice cream shop is Herrell’s in Northampton. It was founded in 1973 by Steve Herrell, who is credited as the first person to introduce ground-up candy and cookies into ice cream. Steve retrofitted an old small batch ice cream mixer and began throwing in Oreos and peanut butter cups into the batch.

He called this method the “smoosh-in,” and even trademarked the term. A major landmark achievement for ice cream lovers looking for more than just vanilla.

If you’re looking for more than just the routine, you get stories such as this at BetMassachusetts.com. You will also get Massachusetts sportsbook promo codes.

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Author

Howard Gensler
Howard Gensler
Journalist / Reporter

Howard Gensler is a veteran journalist covering the Massachusetts sports betting market for BetMassachusetts.com. Before his focus on U.S. sports betting, Howard worked at the Philadelphia Daily News, TV Guide and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Howard is also a founding editor of bettorsinsider.com.

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