NJ is No. 1 for ice cream. Here’s what we love most

If you needed another reason to love living in New Jersey, here it is: we are officially the most ice cream obsessed state in America.

A new study from Innerbody analyzed Google search trends across all 50 states and found that New Jersey ranks No. 1 in the nation for ice cream interest.

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Now this surprised me because years ago I heard that New Hampshire ate the most ice cream per capita. Granted, this study was looking at Google searches, not sales, but you’d think they’d go hand in hand.

Although maybe if you consider ice cream as a comfort food in dealing with stress, New Jersey being No. 1 might start making more sense in 2026.

Not only did we beat every other state, but the Northeast dominated the rankings, with Delaware, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York all landing near the top as well. Apparently, cold winters don’t stop us from craving a frozen treat.

What's our favorite flavor?

The study also found something surprising about New Jersey’s tastes. While many states gravitated toward household names like Ben & Jerry’s or Cold Stone Creamery, New Jersey’s most-searched ice cream brand was Talenti.

My first reaction was, “Talenti? Really?”

If you’re not familiar with it, Talenti isn’t technically ice cream. It’s gelato, the Italian frozen dessert that’s churned more slowly and contains less air than traditional ice cream, giving it a denser and creamier texture. The brand was founded in Dallas in 2003 by entrepreneur Josh Hochschuler.

I’ll let you deliberate over whether it’s fair for a gelato to be a favorite “ice cream” brand. But what about flavor? This same study says New Jersey’s favorite ice cream flavor, no matter the brand, is chocolate chip.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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