Polls That Matter. Insights That Count.

Duel of the Plates: Do Americans Prefer Cobb or Caesar Salad?

by | Jul 8, 2025 | Food & Beverage, AI, Announcement, Human Interest

Image credit: Cliffer Rebelo via Unsplash

Salad can be the main event in a meal or serve as an accompaniment. Regardless of its place on the table, there are a variety of different types of salads, but one very common salad, the Caesar salad, just had its national day on July 4th. Understandably, an event overshadowed by a much larger meaning for the day. With this celebration in mind, CivicScience explored how Caesar salad stacks up against another common salad, Cobb salad. Which do Americans prefer?

Cast Your Vote: Better salad: Cobb or Caesar?

The survey garnered over 18,000 respondents (excluding those who prefer neither), highlighting a clear winner in a direct head-to-head: the Caesar salad. Nearly two-thirds (64%) said they believe Caesar is the ‘better salad’ compared to 36% who lean toward Cobb.  But these tastes vary when demographic attributes come into play.

Age plays a notable role in salad preference, with younger adults showing the strongest support for Caesar. Among those aged 18 to 29, 76% picked Caesar as the better salad, while just 24% preferred Cobb. This preference softens slightly with age but remains in Caesar’s favor across all groups. Adults 30 to 44 favor Caesar 73% to 27%, while those aged 45 to 64 give it a 67% to 33% edge. Even among seniors 65 and older, Caesar leads 60% to 40%, suggesting broad appeal across generations.

Gender differences are less pronounced but still evident. Males show a slightly higher preference for Caesar salad at 70%, compared to 67% among females. Cobb salad gains a bit more traction with women, capturing 33% compared to 30% of men.

Employment situation reveals one of the more interesting splits. Those working fully remote or in hybrid arrangements demonstrate a stronger leaning toward Caesar salad than those working fully in-person. Among hybrid workers, a notable 85% favor Caesar, with only 15% choosing Cobb. Fully remote workers show a similar preference, with 84% choosing Caesar. Those working fully in-person still prefer Caesar but by a narrower margin of 68% to 32%.

These findings highlight how salad preference can intersect with lifestyle factors like work environment and age. While Caesar remains the clear overall favorite, Cobb salad holds steady support, especially among older adults and those working fully on-site. For salad lovers, this might be the perfect excuse to enjoy both depending on your mood or setting.

Keep answering questions.

This article’s data comes solely from CivicScience’s database, which contains nearly 700,000 poll questions and 5 billion consumer insights.

Sign Up for Our Poll of the Day Email

Subscribe to Receive our Poll of the Day Email with three questions.
Sign Up