A Map Of Every McDonald's In The U.S.

In 2009, artist and scientist Stephen Von Worley created a data visualization of every McDonald's in the U.S., using data from AggData. The map is once again making waves after a Redditor recently posted the map. Two years later, as more outposts have opened, the map remains a powerful visualization of just how omnipresent the fast food chain is.

Von Worley observes, "McDonald's cluster at the population centers and hug the highway grid. East of the Mississippi, there's wall-to-wall coverage, except for a handful of meager gaps centered on the Adirondacks, inland Maine, the Everglades, and outlying West Virginia."

He also notices the "McFarthest spot," an area in the Nevada desert in which the closest McDonald's is 110 miles away (and Von Worley visits it!). This specific McFarthest spot changed from Von Worley's initial post, wherein the spot was located in South Dakota, and a mere 107 miles away.

Check out Stephen Von Worley's full explanation for the data over at Data Pointed, and see the full visualization below, as well as a video of the McFarthest spot.

Comments

[jim0652]

09:59 PM on 12/31/2011

I don't care how close or far there is a McD's, I think there food is TERRIBLE!!!!!, & will never eat there again the rest of my life. It has probably been 10 years since I last ate there!!!!!!!!!!

[deckedarea]

03:52 AM on 11/20/2011

Good to know that there are some people out there like The McLibel Two - Helen Steel and David Morris and the unsigned British band Captive State who can say 'NO' to McDonalds. McDonalds offered the band mega bucks for their track 'Falling Backwards'. The offer was declined.

[MarDoug]

09:32 AM on 11/14/2011

Great, now McDonald's is gonna have to build one out there for the jackrabbits & scorpions.

[Patti Persia]

07:03 AM on 11/14/2011

That video was just riveting. The only thing that would have made it more interesting is if he found a big M in the sand.

[Carolyn Kostopoulos]

01:02 AM on 11/14/2011

where are the anti trust laws when you need them? what would be so terrible if each state, each community had it's own local non-chain restaurants that specialized in the food of that region? what is the point of traveling if every place "tastes" the same?

[chiara0]

06:26 AM on 11/13/2011

My stomach McHurts.

[TheFlowerChild]

02:48 AM on 11/12/2011

Really. Sick. A Vegetarians worst nightmare. :(

[Spartanmom40]

02:04 PM on 11/11/2011

Notice there are more McD's in the states with higher obesity rates? (KY, AL, OH, AR to name a few). The real question is, is this the chicken or the egg? Are people overweight because of McD's presence, or because McD's strategically places their restaurants where the sales will be higher? Either way, I suppose it doesn't matter. Everyone can choose whether to eat there or not. This isn't a post against McD's in any way. Could be any fast food restaurant and we could see the same results. McD's just has a bad rap because they are the largest. (Besides Subway now, but I don't think the two are that comparable based upon menu items)

[HazelPethigFan]

03:20 PM on 11/12/2011

Alabama? are you kidding? You better look at the map again. The highest concentrations are from Chicago over to OH and then Boston-Wash along the Eastcaost. Locations coincide as to where people live.

[Spartanmom40]

03:39 PM on 11/12/2011

Wow. Just noted that the majority of states at the top of the list for obesity are typically East of the Mississippi or the more southern states. Alabama is ranked 2nd for obesity right after Mississippi. Mind you I did rank OH and KY right in there as well and I live in KY myself. Colorado and several other western states are typically on the bottom of the list for obesity.

I was just posing the chicken/egg question. Not really trying to get anyone fired up here. Sorry if you live in Alabama and took it personal or something...

[renman103]

11:01 AM on 11/11/2011

hey, mcdonalds and other fast food establishments have been around for 50 plus years ,its only in recent years they are getting a bad rap in contibuting to childhood obesity etc., how abt in recent years the home computer and video games are making kids more sedintary ,

[ivorykeys87]

02:42 PM on 11/11/2011

Well, if you use that logic then you have to assume they eat their meals at home. Much healthier home cooked meals. Even if you are never very active, your body has this thing called a basal metabolic rate, or the amount of calories you would burn if you just laid in bed all day. The issue of obesity is not so much activity level as it is the nutrients in the food. High caloric intake of bad/no nutrients can make anyone obese, not just gamers.

[Dillon N Gail]

11:29 PM on 11/12/2011

People use to eat it once in awhile and they used better products back then if I am not mistaken, also people ate real food 90% of the time back and mothers were home to cook meals for their families where most mothers work now ... then so your theory is FLAWED and yes people need to move more but fast food has ruined our health as a nation :( it's cheaper and easier to eat it than cook a nutritious meal ... sad

[IrieMoon]

10:38 AM on 11/11/2011

As my high school art history teacher once said: "In a million years our civilization will be unearthed just like we dig up ancient ruins and the future inhabitants will think that McDonalds was where we went to worship."

[jason83]

02:46 AM on 11/14/2011

All hail the McNugget that never decays!

[metalsmithgirl71]

04:29 AM on 11/11/2011

and we wonder why there's so many fat people

[sunnigrl0923]

12:28 AM on 11/11/2011

yummmm i love mcd's =D

[enkephalos]

10:56 PM on 11/10/2011

Eh.... Food is food.

Keeps me alive.

Dollar menu = win

[tadpole112202]

07:32 PM on 11/12/2011

$1 McChicken = awesome

[Dillon N Gail]

11:30 PM on 11/12/2011

McChicken = heart attack n diabetes n cancer YUM lol

[Jonny Boy]

12:54 PM on 11/10/2011

I don’t understand why so much hate towards McDonalds. They have some good healthy fewer than 500 calories meals and some good salads. http://www.livestrong.com/article/417444-healthy-food-at-mcdonalds/
They even started serving oatmeal breakfast and have option to choose apple and juice on happy meal. If you can’t change your lifestyle or can’t choose healthy food you have no one but yourself to blame. It’s not like if we take all the McDonalds out of the country and the entire obesity problem will disappear. These days we American just need an excuse for everything and blame everyone but our self.

[InVinoVeritasBC]

12:58 PM on 11/10/2011

And I cannot understand why so much hate towards obese people. Why is acceptable to be so cruel towards people due to one aspect? Sounds like prejudice, doesn't it?

[ecrichert12]

01:10 PM on 11/10/2011

Perhaps, but they're hardly the only ones. Are we so kind on those that abuse drugs or alcohol? Sometimes obese people get criticized, sometimes not. Ever hear someone say "I dont like that comedian, he's too fat"? Me neither.

[Jonny Boy]

01:11 PM on 11/10/2011

If you are referring to my post as hate towards obese people than you are wrong my friend. You can have your opinion but you cannot twist my post and make it sound like I am somehow cruel towards obese people.

All I am saying we have choice of food at McDonalds and people should use their judgment instead of blaming it on others. Beside not all people are obese because of eating at McDonalds or other fast food, lot of it is related to Genetics and medical condition.

[Sophist FCD]

01:04 PM on 11/10/2011

They are not the source of the problem, but they ARE symbolic of the problem. McDonald's is a stand in for the whole American food culture not because they are the worst but because they have such a universal presence, in our culture as well as our communities.

Oh, and nobody buys those "healthy" alternatives anyway. They're just a fig leaf.

[Jonny Boy]

09:06 PM on 11/10/2011

Yes ...So blame McDonalds for people not buying healthy meal from their menu right?

[ApprxAm]

12:46 PM on 11/10/2011

Mississippi and Montana have a lot of McDonald's