Fast-food restaurants are everywhere in America, but some states appear to have far fewer major-chain locations relative to their populations than others. A widely reported comparison examined locations from 22 selected restaurant chains and calculated how many existed per 100,000 residents in each state.
The brands included familiar names such as McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Chick-fil-A, Taco Bell, Subway, Starbucks, Domino’s, Dunkin’, and several others. One important distinction matters before getting into the list: these numbers do not represent every fast-food restaurant in each state. They measure only the selected chains included in the analysis, adjusted for population.
Based on the lowest rates reported in secondary coverage, these eight states landed at the bottom of the comparison.
Vermont
Vermont had the lowest reported rate, with 27.65 selected-chain locations for every 100,000 residents. That does not mean Vermont necessarily has the fewest restaurants of every kind. Instead, it means the 22 chains counted in the comparison had the smallest presence relative to the state’s population among the reported bottom group…