There are few simple pleasures quite like a good bowl of ice cream. And it turns out, Americans are still very much devoted to it. According to the International Dairy Foods Association, the average American ate 4 gallons of ice cream in 2025. Ice cream makers churned out 1.23 billion gallons that year just to keep up.

A new report from Innerbody Research dug into internet search data from the past year to find out which brands and flavors people are thinking about the most. The results had a few surprises.

The Brand at the Top Might Surprise You

Out of 31 brands in the study, Halo Top came out on top nationwide. That’s the brand known for its low-calorie, low-sugar ice cream. It beat out some very well-known competition.

Cold Stone Creamery came in second place. Rounding out the top five were Breyers, Talenti, and Häagen-Dazs, all familiar names that have been around for decades.

Where You Live Shapes What You Love

When it comes to regional loyalty, people stick with what they know. Ohioans searched most for Graeter’s Ice Cream, a Cincinnati institution that has been around since 1870. Texans were firmly in the Blue Bell camp. And Vermonters? No surprise there, Ben & Jerry’s all the way.

Innerbody noted in the report that most ice cream in the U.S. is produced and marketed regionally. That regional footprint, the report explains, helps local brands build strong followings in their own markets over time.

Cold weather is no barrier, either. Six of the top 10 states with the highest ice cream search volumes are in the Northeast. New Jersey led the pack, followed by Delaware and Massachusetts. The report suggests the Northeast’s long history of dairy farming and cooler storage temperatures may play a role.

At the other end of the list, Arkansas and North Dakota had the lowest search volumes for ice cream.

The Flavors America Can’t Stop Thinking About

Strawberry took the top spot as America’s most searched ice cream flavor. It was the number one flavor in 15 states, showing up from California and Texas all the way to Michigan and Virginia. The Innerbody report called it “the most geographically consistent flavor in the dataset.”

Chocolate chip, cookie dough, chocolate, and vanilla rounded out the top five flavors in that order. The report pointed out that chocolate chip and cookie dough are relatively new compared to the classics. Ben & Jerry’s didn’t invent cookie dough ice cream until 1984. Chocolate ice cream, on the other hand, has been around for centuries.

So the classics are holding their own and that feels just about right. Some things never need to change.