Everyone loves snacks in one way or the other. There are so many items that can be counted as a snack but chips are the most common ones. With plenty of variations in chips, they have become popular all over the world including in the United States. While some snacks are healthy, others are not so good. People have different reasons for the consumption of these snacks. From the following graphs, we can evaluate how big is the Snack Industry in the United States. 

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Top Reasons for Snacking in the United States

Americans eat snacks for plenty of reasons. All of these reasons are casual and nothing seems a bit too serious. From the statistics, it is estimated that 30.5% of Americans eat snacks because they want to eat something healthy and delicious while 30.5% have them because they want to have a quick treat. 21% of Americans are just looking towards snack items as something to eat and enjoy at the moment even if they aren’t that hungry. 7% eat snacks for fun while 11% said that they don’t have any particular reason to eat a snack. 

Snack Food Production in the United States (In billion US Dollars).

The US is one of the biggest markets for snack foods. The industry is several billion dollars big and continues to grow. This is because the demand for snacks as well as the concept of variation in snacks has taken importance over the past few years. As of 2012, the Snack Food Production in the United States was $36,854 billion and reached an all-time high in 2017 when it crossed $42,591 billion. There was a slight fall noticed after this when the market reached $40,909 billion in 2019. However, it then had another boom and set a new record of $43,633 billion. 

Top Selling Salty Snacks in the US (2017)

Salty snacks are not that popular but still account for one of the major proportions in the snack industry of America. Potato Chips were the most famous salty snacks with over $7.35 billion in sales revenue followed by Tortillas with $5.06 billion in sales in 2017. Salted cheese snacks were also quite popular and had a growing revenue. In 2017, they accounted for $2.41 billion in sales. $1.28 billion worth of Ready-to-eat popcorn was consumed in the same year followed by Pretzels which had a sales figure of $1.19 billion. Corn snacks are also close with $1.15 billion of sales in the same year.

Top Selling Potato Chips Snacks in the US (2017)

Potato Chips are offered by multiple brands and come in different flavorings as well. For this reason, they account for the most consumed salty snack in the United States. The company Frito-Lay which has the signature “Lays” chips was on top in 2017 with $2,180 million in sales. Other products by the company were also quite popular including Ruffles with $870 million in sales and Lays Wavy with $518 million in sales. Kelloggs buy Pringles were also quite a demanded snack in 2017 with $713 million in sales. Other popular top potato chip snack brands in the US in 2017 include Private Label, Lay’s Kettle Cooked, Cape Cod, UTZ, Kettle, and Herrs. 

Top Selling Tortilla Chips Snacks in the United States in 2017

Tortilla snacks have also grown in popularity over the past few years. Data from 2017 shows that over $3,800 million worth of Tortilla chips were sold that year. Among these, Doritos by Frito-Lay were the most popular one with $2,090 million in sales. All other Top selling Tortilla chips combined had fewer sales than Doritos. Tostitos and Tostitos Scoops were also hot favorites in 2017 as they had sales of $635 million and $470 million. These were also products by Frito-Lay. Other top-selling tortilla snacks of 2017 include Private Label, Santitas, Barcel Takis Fuego, On the Border, Mission, and varieties of Doritos. 

Top Selling Cheese Snacks in the United States (2017)

Cheese snacks do not have that much of a huge market in the US but they still have a good proportion of sales. Frito-Lay is again on the top of this particular market segment with their “Cheetos” Chips. They account for $1620 worth of sales as of 2017. The second one is also by Frito-Lay and is called “Chesters” with sales of $120 million as of 2017. Any other cheese snacks manufacturer did not have a sales figure of more than $60 million. These include UTZ, Private Label, Variety of Cheetos, Herrs, and Wise Cheese Doodles as well.

Top Selling Ready to Eat Popcorn in the United States (2017)

Popcorn is an all-time favorite snack of Americans and is usually consumed at the time of movies. However, with packaged ready-to-eat popcorn now available in the market, they have also attracted many but the market is still young for this particular snack. Data from 2017 shows that Smartfood Popcorns by Frito-Lay was the most popular top-selling ready-to-eat popcorn with $358 million in sales followed by Skinny Pop with $225 million in sales. All other ready-to-eat popcorn brands had more than $20 million and less than $80 million in sales. These include Angle’s Boom Chikka, Private Label, Smartfood Delight, Popcorn Indiana, Cracker Jerk, Crunch N Munch, Chesters, and Wise.