The map above looks at the best food restaurant in each US state and comes from CashNetUSA. It’s based on Google Map reviews from each brands location.
From the map:
It might be closed on Sundays, but that doesn’t stop Chick-Fil-A — aka the “home of the Original Chicken Sandwich” — from being the best fast-food chain in the greatest number of states (34). The capital A stands for “grade A top quality,” and this certainly seems to be true for states, including Arkansas, Louisiana, and Wyoming.
Below you can you find a map of the worst fast food restaurants in each US state, along with a full list and data for major US cities:
From the map:
The U.S. is arguably a nation of pizza lovers. According to Statista, pizza restaurant sales reached over $46 billion in 2020. Yet Papa John’s gets a particularly bad rap in our study. The restaurant came out bottom in areas including Illinois, Missouri, and North Carolina.
In 2015, these states were among a handful of others that accused the company of undercompensating its delivery drivers. Coincidence?
List of Best & Worst Fast Food Restaurants By City & State
By US State:
| State | Best Fast Food Chain | Worst Fast Food Chain |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Daylight Donuts | Wingstop |
| Alaska | Papa Murphy's | Pizza Hut |
| Arizona | LaMar's Donuts and Coffee | KFC |
| Arkansas | Chick-fil-A | KFC |
| California | In-N-Out Burger | Domino's |
| Colorado | LaMar's Donuts and Coffee | Papa John's |
| Connecticut | Chick-fil-A | Papa John's |
| Delaware | Chick-fil-A | Papa John's |
| Florida | Chick-fil-A | Domino's |
| Georgia | Daylight Donuts | Domino's |
| Hawaii | Raising Cane's | Domino's |
| Idaho | Chick-fil-A | Pizza Hut |
| Illinois | Papa Murphy's | Papa John's |
| Indiana | Chick-fil-A | Papa John's |
| Iowa | Chick-fil-A | Papa John's |
| Kansas | Chick-fil-A | Domino's |
| Kentucky | Chick-fil-A | Wingstop |
| Louisiana | Chick-fil-A | Domino's |
| Maine | Chick-fil-A | Chipotle |
| Maryland | Chick-fil-A | Domino's |
| Massachusetts | Chick-fil-A | Domino's |
| Michigan | Chick-fil-A | Wingstop |
| Minnesota | Chick-fil-A | Domino's |
| Mississippi | Chick-fil-A | McDonald's |
| Missouri | LaMar's Donuts and Coffee | Papa John's |
| Montana | Chick-fil-A | Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen |
| Nebraska | LaMar's Donuts and Coffee | Papa John's |
| Nevada | In-N-Out Burger | Papa John's |
| New Hampshire | Chick-fil-A | Burger King |
| New Jersey | Chick-fil-A | Domino's |
| New Mexico | Chick-fil-A | KFC |
| New York | Papa Murphy's | Domino's |
| North Carolina | Chick-fil-A | Papa John's |
| North Dakota | Chick-fil-A | Taco Bell |
| Ohio | Chick-fil-A | Papa John's |
| Oklahoma | Chick-fil-A | Papa John's |
| Oregon | Krispy Kreme | Pizza Hut |
| Pennsylvania | Chick-fil-A | Domino's |
| Rhode Island | Chick-fil-A | Little Caesars |
| South Carolina | Papa Murphy's | Domino's |
| South Dakota | Shipley Do-Nuts | Pizza Hut |
| Tennessee | Chick-fil-A | Wingstop |
| Texas | Chick-fil-A | Papa John's |
| Utah | Five Guys | Domino's |
| Vermont | Chick-fil-A | KFC |
| Virginia | Chick-fil-A | Papa John's |
| Washington | Chick-fil-A | Papa John's |
| West Virginia | Chick-fil-A | Dunkin Donuts |
| Wisconsin | Chick-fil-A | Papa John's |
| Wyoming | Chick-fil-A | Burger King |
The most common top-rated restaurant is Chick-fil-A, which is the top choice in 34 states.
The most disliked restaurant is Papa John’s, which is the bottom-rated choice in 16 states.
By US City:
| City Name | Best Fast Food Chain | Worst Fast Food Chain |
|---|---|---|
| Albuquerque | Chick-fil-A | Pizza Hut |
| Arlington | Chick-fil-A | Domino's |
| Atlanta | Chick-fil-A | Domino's |
| Aurora | Chick-fil-A | Pizza Hut |
| Austin | Chick-fil-A | Papa John's |
| Bakersfield | In-N-Out Burger | Domino's |
| Baltimore | Chick-fil-A | Domino's |
| Boston | Raising Cane's | Domino's |
| Charlotte | Chick-fil-A | Pizza Hut |
| Chicago | Raising Cane's | Papa John's |
| Colorado Springs | Chick-fil-A | KFC |
| Columbus | Chick-fil-A | Papa John's |
| Dallas | Chick-fil-A | Papa John's |
| Denver | Chick-fil-A | Pizza Hut |
| Detroit | Chick-fil-A | Domino's |
| El Paso | Chick-fil-A | KFC |
| Fort Worth | Chick-fil-A | Domino's |
| Fresno | In-N-Out Burger | Burger King |
| Houston | Chick-fil-A | Domino's |
| Indianapolis | Chick-fil-A | Pizza Hut |
| Jacksonville | Chick-fil-A | Domino's |
| Kansas City | LaMar's Donuts and Coffee | Domino's |
| Las Vegas | In-N-Out Burger | Papa John's |
| Long Beach | In-N-Out Burger | Pizza Hut |
| Los Angeles | In-N-Out Burger | Domino's |
| Louisville | Chick-fil-A | Papa John's |
| Memphis | Chick-fil-A | Domino's |
| Mesa | In-N-Out Burger | KFC |
| Miami | Krispy Kreme | Domino's |
| Milwaukee | Culver's | Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen |
| Minneapolis | Raising Cane's | Domino's |
| Nashville | Chick-fil-A | Papa John's |
| New York | Krispy Kreme | Domino's |
| Oakland | In-N-Out Burger | Domino's |
| Oklahoma City | Chick-fil-A | Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen |
| Omaha | Chick-fil-A | Pizza Hut |
| Philadelphia | Chick-fil-A | Domino's |
| Phoenix | LaMar's Donuts and Coffee | Papa John's |
| Portland | Krispy Kreme | Pizza Hut |
| Raleigh | Krispy Kreme | Papa John's |
| Sacramento | In-N-Out Burger | Domino's |
| San Antonio | Chick-fil-A | Burger King |
| San Diego | In-N-Out Burger | Domino's |
| San Francisco | In-N-Out Burger | Domino's |
| San Jose | In-N-Out Burger | Domino's |
| Seattle | Five Guys | KFC |
| Tucson | In-N-Out Burger | KFC |
| Tulsa | Chick-fil-A | Pizza Hut |
| Virginia Beach | Chick-fil-A | Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen |
| Wichita | Chick-fil-A | Burger King |
The most liked chains are: Chick-fil-A in 27 cities, followed by In-N-Out Burger (12) and Krispy Kreme (4). Whereas the most disliked chains are Domino’s in 12 cities followed by Pizza Hut in 9 and Papa John’s in 9.
How did they pick the best and worst?
We analyzed fast-food chain restaurants located in the U.S. from the following five cuisines/categories:
Burgers: McDonald’s, Burger King, Five Guys, Wendy’s, In-N-Out Burger, Hardee’s, Whataburger, Sonic Drive-in, Culver’s, Jack in the Box
Pizza: Dominos, Pizza Hut, Little Caesar’s, Papa John’s, CiCi’s, Chuck E Cheese’s, Papa Murphy’s, Marco’s Pizza, Godfather’s
Doughnuts: Dunkin Donuts, Krispy Kreme, Tim Hortons, Daylight Donuts, Shipley Do-nuts, LaMar’s Donuts, Winchell’s Donuts
Chicken: Chick-fil-A, KFC, Popeyes, Wingstop, Church’s Chicken, Zaxby’s, Bojangles’, Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, Boston Market
Mexican: Taco Bell, Chipotle, Qdoba, Del Taco, Taco John’s, Moe’s Southwest Grill, El Pollo Loco
We collected the number of star reviews and total reviews for each chain restaurant from Google Maps. For individual branches, we sourced direct links to Google Maps from the restaurants’ websites. When such links weren’t available, we searched Google Maps for the name and address of each branch. Addresses for some branches were already provided, and we searched for these using the above method.
For every individual restaurant, the number of reviews for each star rating was multiplied by the corresponding number of stars, ranging from 1 to 5. We summed up these values, and the weighted average rating was calculated by dividing the sum by the total number of reviews. We used the same process to calculate the weighted average rating for chains in each U.S. state and in the 50 most populous cities.
We isolated the best and worst chains overall and by cuisine in every state and city. We also isolated the best and worst individual restaurants within these specific chains. A threshold of at least 1000 reviews was applied for all sections to prevent entries with a small number of mostly positive or negative reviews from topping the charts.
The data was gathered in June 2022.
Also see the best & worst:
What are you favourite and least favourite fast food chains?
Robin Norris says
Sorry, but on the text based table the favorite for Oregon was swapped with the favorite for Pennsylvania. I live in OR so I noticed that the table didn’t match the map, so I went to the original site to see if it was their mistake or a transcription error. It was the later.
Great job otherwise! I love my newsletter!