Have you ever gotten into an argument with a friend or family member over taco toppings? Maybe you’ve got googly eyes for guac while they can’t stand anything avocado, or perhaps you’re very invested in some recurring corn versus flour tortilla discourse. No matter who you are, we all have different taste opinions, and this got us at Gurney’s wondering how these taco-specific preferences vary across the country.
Methodology
To get some answers, we surveyed people from all 50 states and asked them to build their perfect taco (shell, meat, veggie topping, second topping, condiment/sauce). The survey also asked supplemental questions about taco-eating habits, like how many tacos people generally eat at a time, how often they eat tacos, where they get their tacos from, and preferences regarding tortilla chips, salsa, and beer.
The study was conducted using Prolific, and we surveyed over 2,500 people (50 from each state) for one week in early October. We also surveyed an additional 500 people for the supplemental portion of the survey. Note that we did not get enough responses from Alaska, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming for a representative sample, so their responses were not included in the findings.
So without further ado, here are the different types of tacos favored by people across 46 of the 50 U.S. states.
Each State’s Favorite Taco
As you can see, taco #1 was the most popular by far with 18 states preferring the combination. Compare that to second place taco #2, which was the most popular with 5 states, and the difference is truly humongous. It’s worth noting, however, that there’s just a one-ingredient difference between these two taco builds, and that’s taco #1 having lettuce while taco #2 has pico de gallo instead. If we pair this with the information that the survey only allowed each taco two toppings and one sauce, there’s a chance many of the voters in these 23 total states actually enjoy both sour cream and pico on their tacos. So where do things really start to branch off?
As we go down the list, taco #3, which 4 states preferred, introduces guacamole as a topping choice and carne asada as a meat alternative to ground beef. Taco #5, which is eaten primarily in 3 states, brings salsa verde into the equation, and taco #7, which is favored by 2 states, is the first to rest on a corn tortilla instead of flour. There were some completely unique ingredient choices in some states, too. Indiana, for example, was the only state to put queso in their top three preferred toppings, Massachusetts was the only state to prefer chicken to ground beef or carne asada, and Oregon was the only state to leave meat behind altogether and put a vegetarian filling in their favorite type of taco.
Fun fact: Out of the 14 different combinations, there wasn’t a single one that didn’t include cheese, even though cheeseless tacos are actually very common in the taco’s country of origin, Mexico. Maybe this is some evidence of America’s cheese obsession?
Ingredient Totals
Curious about the final ingredient totals across all 14 taco variants? Check them out here:
Type of Tortilla
Flour tortillas – 41 states
Corn tortillas – 5 states
Type of Meat
Ground beef – 35 states
Carne asada – 9 states
Chicken – 1 state
Vegetarian – 1 state
Toppings
Cheese – 46 states
Lettuce – 25 states
Pico de gallo – 21 states
Sauces and Condiments
Sour cream – 24 states
Guacamole – 13 states
Salsa verde – 8 states
Queso – 1 state
Regional Connections
Salsa verde was very popular in the southwest, making it onto the ideal taco of Texas, Utah, New Mexico, and Nevada, while the entire west coast (California, Oregon, and Washington) rocked with guacamole. We think this might have something to do with California being the number one avocado-producing state in the country. Oregon is the only state to prefer a plant-based filling over a meat option could also be connected to the state’s vegan population, which is the largest in the country.
America’s Taco Preferences
Remember that extended bit of the study we mentioned earlier, where we asked questions regarding the frequency of taco-eating, favorite taco spots, and preferred sides and drinks? Here are the results from that 500-person supplementary survey.
On average, just over half (52.2%) of Americans eat two to three tacos per sitting, 60% put on three to five toppings, and 59.2% eat tacos at least once per month. Tacos are also preferred to any other Mexican dish by a wide margin: 43.8% said tacos were their favorite Mexican food, meaning tacos beat the second place choice, burritos, by almost double!
The competition for the most popular beer to pair with tacos wasn’t close either, with Corona having a larger selection percentage than the second place Sol and third place Dos Equis combined. And the blowouts don’t stop there. Traditional salsa also scored a higher percentage than the second place salsa verde and third place pico de gallo combined, and Tostitos were more than twice as popular as the second favorite tortilla chip, Mission.
The competition gets a lot more stiff when comparing the places Americans prefer to acquire their tacos, however. In what could be considered a surprise, homemade tacos beat both restaurant tacos and food truck tacos, but not by much as all three options have about one third of the support of the 500 surveyors.
Most Popular Taco Types Overall
And the winner is…
Taco #1! As we mentioned earlier, the competition was no match for taco #1, with over one-third of the country choosing the combination of a flour tortilla, ground beef, cheese, lettuce, and sour cream as their favorite. The huge gap between taco #1 and taco #2 aside, taco #2 all the way down to taco #14 only varied between five state wins and one state win, so if taco #1 isn’t your choice, the competition is a lot closer.
Closing Thoughts
If you’re in the half of the country that picked lettuce as one of their top three taco toppings, you might consider yourself a veggie person. And if you’ve ever considered growing your own vegetables to pair with foods like tacos, let us at Gurney’s help you get started with one of the most varied seed collections in the country, all of which can be mailed right to your door!
