{"id":1695,"date":"2026-01-13T22:02:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T22:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/?p=1695"},"modified":"2026-01-13T22:02:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T22:02:14","slug":"these-are-the-most-popular-fast-food-chains-in-every-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/?p=1695","title":{"rendered":"These Are The Most Popular Fast Food Chains In Every State"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-journey-body=\"standard-article\">\n<ul data-node-id=\"0\" class=\"css-kw9lqy emevuu60\">\n<li data-node-id=\"0.0\">Using data from Google Trends, Visual Capitalist determined the most popular fast food chain in every state.<\/li>\n<li data-node-id=\"0.1\">Wendy\u2019s was the most popular in the most states, followed closely by Sonic. <\/li>\n<li data-node-id=\"0.2\">Many of the most popular chains come as a surprise, although some make a lot of sense.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr data-node-id=\"1\" class=\"css-18pb4rg emevuu60\"\/>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"2\" class=\"css-6wxqfj emevuu60\">Food preferences vary wildly from person to person. For example, I can\u2019t stomach cilantro (it\u2019s not my fault, it\u2019s genetic!), while others pile it high on every dish. The debate over whether pineapple belongs on pizza runs deep. Not only do food preferences vary person to person, but they also vary by location. New Yorkers swear by the tomato-based Manhattan clam chowder, while New Englanders go hard for their own version of creamy clam chowder. The same can be said for fast food preferences. Each state has its own fan favorite chain, and the results are honestly surprising.<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"3\" class=\"css-6wxqfj emevuu60\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visualcapitalist.com\/mapped-each-states-favorite-fast-food-restaurant\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.visualcapitalist.com\/mapped-each-states-favorite-fast-food-restaurant\/\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"Visual Capitalist\" data-node-id=\"3.0\" class=\"body-link css-1i7jlb0 emevuu60\">Visual Capitalist<\/a> used data from FinanceBuzz, which tracked Google Trends scores and normalized them to the number of restaurant locations per 100,000 people to determine the most popular fast-food chain in each state. And sadly, there wasn\u2019t a Micky D\u2019s in sight! While not every state had a surprising winner\u2014Chick-fil-A in Georgia and Popeyes in Louisiana were shoe-ins\u2014some were downright eye-opening. <\/p>\n<section data-embed=\"body-image\" data-lazy-id=\"P0-15\" data-node-id=\"4\" class=\"embed\">\n<div size=\"medium\" data-embed=\"body-image\" class=\"align-center size-medium embed css-y6m8k e1fodxfw4\">\n<div class=\"css-uwraif e1fodxfw3\">\n<div class=\"css-p7qblm e1mlxuuw0\"><img draggable=\"true\" alt=\"map showing favorite fast food chains by state in the us\" title=\"map showing favorite fast food chains by state in the us\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1262\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" style=\"color:transparent;width:100%;height:auto;\" sizes=\"auto, 100vw\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/fast-food-favorite-by-state-02-web-copy-69669ad6ec443.jpg?crop=1.00xw:0.956xh;0,0&amp;resize=640:* 640w, https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/fast-food-favorite-by-state-02-web-copy-69669ad6ec443.jpg?crop=1.00xw:0.956xh;0,0&amp;resize=768:* 980w, https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/fast-food-favorite-by-state-02-web-copy-69669ad6ec443.jpg?crop=1.00xw:0.956xh;0,0&amp;resize=980:* 1120w, https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/fast-food-favorite-by-state-02-web-copy-69669ad6ec443.jpg?crop=1.00xw:0.956xh;0,0&amp;resize=980:* 1400w, https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/fast-food-favorite-by-state-02-web-copy-69669ad6ec443.jpg?crop=1.00xw:0.956xh;0,0&amp;resize=980:* 1800w, https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/fast-food-favorite-by-state-02-web-copy-69669ad6ec443.jpg?crop=1.00xw:0.956xh;0,0&amp;resize=980:* 2000w\" src=\"https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/fast-food-favorite-by-state-02-web-copy-69669ad6ec443.jpg?crop=1.00xw:0.956xh;0,0&amp;resize=980:*\" class=\"css-0 e1g79fud0\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" data-dynamic-svg=\"true\" src=\"https:\/\/www.delish.com\/_assets\/design-tokens\/fre\/static\/icons\/social\/pinterest.e8cf655.svg?primary=%2523ffffff\" loading=\"lazy\" data-testid=\"dynamic-svg-base\" height=\"auto\" width=\"auto\" alt=\"pinterest\" class=\"css-4lml0h e1mlxuuw1\"\/><\/div>\n<p><figcaption data-theme-key=\"photo-credit-figcaption\" class=\"css-1am3yn9 e1g9hcy40\"><span data-theme-key=\"photo-credit-creditor\" class=\"css-10bgxwr e1geg53v2\">visual capitalist<\/span><\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"5\" class=\"css-6wxqfj emevuu60\">Overall, Wendy\u2019s was the favorite chain in the most states, claiming six, and was closely followed by Sonic, which took five states. Some chains on the map I had never even heard of\u2014Pollo Tropical (which won Florida), Papa Murphy\u2019s (which won Oregon and Idaho), Taco John\u2019s (took the crown in Wyoming and South Dakota), and Captain D\u2019s (which won Alabama) are all new to me. And as someone who grew up in Connecticut, I was surprised to find that Jersey Mike\u2019s is the state\u2019s favorite chain, as I\u2019ve never even set foot in one. <\/p>\n<section data-embed=\"watch-next\" data-lazy-id=\"P0-16\" data-node-id=\"6\" class=\"embed\"\/>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"7\" class=\"css-6wxqfj emevuu60\">Which state do you think has the most surprising favorite?<br data-node-id=\"7.1\"\/><\/p>\n<section data-embed=\"editorial-link\" data-lazy-id=\"P0-17\" data-node-id=\"8\" class=\"embed\">\n<aside class=\"css-fcvumo e94w1mj1\"\/><\/section>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Using data from Google Trends, Visual Capitalist determined the most popular fast food chain in every state. Wendy\u2019s was the most popular in the most states, followed closely by Sonic. Many of the most popular chains come as a surprise, although some make a lot of sense. Food preferences vary [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}