McDonald’s has 39,195 stores worldwide, according to data scraped September 2023 and posted on Kaggle. About half are in two countries, the United States and China.

Countries

The fast-food chain has stores in 94 countries.

The number would be larger if constituent or devolved countries were counted separately. For example, the Kaggle data group England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales within one country, the United Kingdom. Similarly, Curaçao and San Martin (more commonly, Sint Martin) are counted within the Netherlands.

Countries Per Capita

Although the United States has the most outlets, it also has the third largest population in the world. Therefore, a better indication of the density of stores requires accounting for population.

Following is a chart for the 10 countries, with at least 1 million population, that have the most stores relative to population.

World Cities

Of the 20 cities with at least 100 stores, 13 are in China.

Comparing cities is challenging because of how the locations are listed in the company websites. For example, the data list New York City stores by borough, so that the Bronx and Brooklyn are separate. This analysis reclassified those boroughs as New York City to maintain consistency.

Per-capita analysis was not performed because population data are inconsistent. Some countries calculate urban population by an administrative unit rather than geographical boundaries. Thus, a city population may include suburbs in one country but not another.

Google Translate was used to translate cities in Chinese and Japanese.

City Country Stores
Beijing China 422
Shanghai China 422
Otsu Japan 341
Shenzhen China 341
Guangzhou China 309
Hong Kong China 252
Tokyo Japan 247
São Paulo Brazil 212
Moscow Russia 191
Tianjin China 172
Hangzhou China 167
New York City United States 143
Wuhan China 141
Fushan China 133
Nanjing China 124
Singapore Singapore 123
Chengdu China 120
Dongguan China 113
London United Kingdom 105
Fuzhou China 101

US Stores

The United States, which birthed McDonald’s in 1955, has the most stores, 12,419.

US State Rate

The three states with the most people (California, Texas, and Florida) not coincidentally have the most stores.

After accounting for population, a different ranking occurs, as the chart below shows. This chart is for states with at least 1 million people to avoid exaggerating the influence of states with low populations.

However, the differences are relatively small. All but 1 U.S. state has between 26 and 52 stores per 1 million people.

Among Florida cities with at least 100,000 people, the tourist mecca of Orlando has the greatest concentration of stores. This chart shows the 10 cities with the highest rate.

Story Ideas

  • Which nations with at least 5 million people have relatively few stores per capita, and why?
  • Some nations are far more likely to have stores with a bakery, cafe, or playground, and some have none. Is this a result of national preferences or how features are listed on store websites?
  • Within the United States, are geographic locations more associated with vehicle traffic patterns (busy roads) or with socio-economic factors such as income?