This Is the Best American City for Burger Lovers

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Oct 6, 7:00AM EDT

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This Is the Best American City for Burger Lovers — © Courtesy of Build A Burger

How much do Americans like hamburgers? One estimate puts McDonald’s annual hamburger sales at 2.36 billion a year. While it is the largest burger chain by sales in the United States, Burger King and Wendy’s are not far behind. Thousands of small and medium-sized fast-food and dining establishments have hamburgers on their menus as well. Across all these establishments, the average American consumes about three burgers per week.

Lawn care service providers Lawn Love looked at hamburger data from almost 200 large U.S. cities to find 2021’s Best Cities for Burger Fans. Considering the love of Americans for hamburgers, it is perhaps not surprising that the best city for burger fans is no other than the nation’s capital, Washington D.C.

A total of 197 cities were rated on the following:

Establishments serving burgers per 100,000 residents (weight: 2)
Median rating for establishments serving burgers (weight: 3)
Total points for Michelin-rated establishments serving burgers per 100,000 residents (no stars/awards = 0 points, Michelin Plate = 1 point, Michelin Bib Gourmand = 2 points, 1 star = 3 points, 2 stars = 4 points) (weight: 4)
Most data came from Michelin Guide and TripAdvisor.

For a reason it is hard to explain, cities in California did unusually well, taking six of the top 10 places. Yet, Washington D.C. came in first place with a score of 74.45. The best possible score was 100. Here are America’s 25 favorite burger joints.

Cities in Texas put up a poor showing, taking three of the bottom 10 spots. Midland came in last of the 197 cities with a score of 1.87. Texas does better when it comes to America’s 25 best steakhouses according to Yelp.

Here are the 50 best cities for burger lovers

50. Santa Clarita, CA
> Overall score: 27.37

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49. Glendale, AZ
> Overall score: 27.40

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48. Honolulu, HI
> Overall score: 27.42

47. Detroit, MI
> Overall score: 27.44

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46. Salt Lake City, UT
> Overall score: 27.51

45. Rancho Cucamonga, CA
> Overall score: 27.54

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44. Irvine, CA
> Overall score: 27.73

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43. Gilbert, AZ
> Overall score: 27.92

42. Cary, NC
> Overall score: 28.04

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41. Escondido, CA
> Overall score: 28.42

40. Pasadena, TX
> Overall score: 28.43

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39. Mesa, AZ
> Overall score: 28.50

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38. Knoxville, TN
> Overall score: 28.66

37. Seattle, WA
> Overall score: 29.22

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36. Birmingham, AL
> Overall score: 29.26

35. Jersey City, NJ
> Overall score: 29.28

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34. Portland, OR
> Overall score: 29.32

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33. Tempe, AZ
> Overall score: 29.37

32. Chattanooga, TN
> Overall score: 29.44

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31. Las Vegas, NV
> Overall score: 29.48

30. Chula Vista, CA
> Overall score: 29.72

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29. Vancouver, WA
> Overall score: 29.88

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28. Savannah, GA
> Overall score: 30.44

27. Austin, TX
> Overall score: 30.53

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26. Henderson, NV
> Overall score: 30.59

25. Metairie, LA
> Overall score: 30.96

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24. Eugene, OR
> Overall score: 31.08

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23. Chandler, AZ
> Overall score: 31.11

22. McAllen, TX
> Overall score: 32.16

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21. Los Angeles, CA
> Overall score: 32.42

20. Oceanside, CA
> Overall score: 32.52

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19. Fort Lauderdale, FL
> Overall score: 33.06

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18. Moreno Valley, CA
> Overall score: 33.08

17. Huntington Beach, CA
> Overall score: 33.38

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16. Springfield, MO
> Overall score: 33.58

15. Scottsdale, AZ
> Overall score: 33.61

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14. Oakland, CA
> Overall score: 33.63

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13. New Orleans, LA
> Overall score: 33.70

12. Sacramento, CA
> Overall score: 34.05

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11. Torrance, CA
> Overall score: 35.24

10. Fullerton, CA
> Overall score: 35.30

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9. Glendale, CA
> Overall score: 36.06

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8. Orlando, FL
> Overall score: 37.93

7. New York, NY
> Overall score: 37.94

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6. Santa Rosa, CA
> Overall score: 38.71

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5. San Diego, CA
> Overall score: 41.13

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4. Chicago, IL
> Overall score: 50.64

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3. Pasadena, CA
> Overall score: 63.31

2. San Francisco, CA
> Overall score: 64.98

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1. Washington, DC
> Overall score: 74.45

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.