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Mapped: Each State’s Favorite Fast Food Restaurant
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Key Takeaways
- Wendy’s leads the map as the favorite in six states, followed closely by Sonic with five—together accounting for 11 of 51 favorites.
- State tastes are highly fragmented: 28 different chains appear overall, and 15 of them are the top pick in only a single state.
Fast food is one of the most familiar parts of American eating culture, but the fast food restaurants people love can be surprisingly different by state.
This map shows the single most popular fast food chain in every state (and Washington, D.C.) using data from FinanceBuzz which tracks Google Trends scores and normalizes them for the number of restaurant locations per 100,000 people.
America’s Favorite Fast Food Restaurants by State
Wendy’s is the most common state favorite in the dataset, finishing #1 in six different states. Sonic, the largest drive-in restaurant chain in America, is right behind as the favorite in five states.
The data table below shows the favorite fast food restaurant of each U.S. state:
| U.S. State | Favorite Fast Food Restaurant |
|---|---|
| Alabama | Captain D's |
| Alaska | Domino's Pizza |
| Arizona | Jack in the Box |
| Arkansas | Sonic |
| California | Jack in the Box |
| Colorado | Qdoba |
| Connecticut | Jersey Mike's |
| Delaware | Chick-fil-A |
| District of Columbia | Shake Shack |
| Florida | Wendy's |
| Georgia | Chick-fil-A |
| Hawaii | Panda Express |
| Idaho | Papa Murphy's |
| Illinois | Jimmy John's |
| Indiana | Arby's |
| Iowa | Jimmy John's |
| Kansas | Sonic |
| Kentucky | Papa John's |
| Louisiana | Popeyes |
| Maine | Subway |
| Maryland | Chipotle |
| Massachusetts | Panera Bread |
| Michigan | Little Caesars |
| Minnesota | Jimmy John's |
| Mississippi | Sonic |
| Missouri | Taco Bell |
| Montana | Wendy's |
| Nebraska | Arby's |
| Nevada | Jack in the Box |
| New Hampshire | Five Guys |
| New Jersey | Jersey Mike's |
| New Mexico | Sonic |
| New York | Shake Shack |
| North Carolina | Bojangles |
| North Dakota | Subway |
| Ohio | Wendy's |
| Oklahoma | Sonic |
| Oregon | Papa Murphy's |
| Pennsylvania | Wendy's |
| Rhode Island | Burger King |
| South Carolina | Bojangles |
| South Dakota | Taco John's |
| Tennessee | Hardee's |
| Texas | Whataburger |
| Utah | Wendy's |
| Vermont | Subway |
| Virginia | Hardee's |
| Washington | MOD Pizza |
| West Virginia | Wendy's |
| Wisconsin | Culver's |
| Wyoming | Taco John's |
While the states that prefer Wendy’s are spread out from Montana to Pennsylvania, the five that choose Sonic are all clustered around Oklahoma, its home state.
After the top two, three fast food chains are tied as favorites in three states each: Jack in the Box, Subway, and Jimmy John’s.
Home-State Pride Can Give Restaurants the Edge
Beyond the leaders, these fast food preferences highlight the incredible amount of variety in terms of fast food favorites, with 28 different chains appearing as a state favorite.
This long tail reflects a patchwork of local loyalties rather than dominance by one brand, often reinforced by home-state advantages: Whataburger in Texas, Wendy’s in Ohio, and Shake Shack in New York show how proximity to a chain’s roots can translate into lasting popularity.
That dynamic helps explain why the U.S. fast food landscape can feel both national and deeply local at the same time. When a chain’s “hometown” becomes part of its brand story, it can turn everyday convenience into something closer to regional tradition.
Notably absent from the map is McDonald’s, which could be partially due to the fact that it had the highest average menu-price inflation among major U.S. fast food chains from 2014 to 2024, with prices roughly doubling over that period.
Learn More on the Voronoi App
To learn more about the fast food industry in the United States, check out this graphic on Voronoi that breaks down America’s most popular fast food brands by sales.