Fast food capitals of 12 Western states

Fast food capitals of 12 Western states

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SALT LAKE CITY — Sometimes all you need is a quick meal like a juicy burger. This mood tends to strike when you are miles away from any decent stops. Scavenging on late-night gas station offerings is not a sustainable way to live. Thankfully, there are plenty of places across the U.S. that are sanctuaries for fast food joints.

Living in an area with plenty of fast food restaurants presents a double-edged sword. The good news is you could always have a Taco Bell12 Pack to keep you company. The bad news is living near fast food and its sodium-laden charms correlates with greater food consumption and higher obesity rates in children. One study even concluded that “fast food can inhibit savoring, producing negative consequences for how we experience pleasurable events.”

The data scientists at FindTheHome, part of the Graphiq network, identified places that have the highest density of fast food restaurants in each state. Using company classification information from Dun & Bradstreet, we calculated the number of fast food restaurants per 10,000 people. We then identified the city within each state with the highest density of fast food restaurants. Only cities with a population threshold over the 95th percentile of the state were considered in our analysis.

Note: For the sake of simplicity, we round the “Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People” to the nearest hundredth, which results in ties. Ties do not exist in the unrounded list. The order of the list reflects ranking based on the original calculation. The cities displayed in the accompanying visualization do not represent all the cities that were considered, just the cities with the top density of fast food restaurants.

#12. Washington: Lakewood

[Density of Fast Food Restaurants in Washington | FindTheHome](http://places.findthehome.com/l/17/Washington)
**Population:** 58,890 **Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People:** 4.42 **Notable Restaurant:** Church's Chicken

#11. Utah: Sandy

[Density of Fast Food Restaurants in Utah | FindTheHome](http://places.findthehome.com/l/10/Utah)
**Population:** 89,521 **Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People:** 4.58 **Notable Restaurant:** The Philadelphian

#10. Arizona: Tempe

[Density of Fast Food Restaurants in Arizona | FindTheHome](http://places.findthehome.com/l/16/Arizona)
**Population:** 166,975 **Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People:** 4.61 **Notable Restaurant:** French Fry Heaven

#9. Colorado: Grand Junction

[Density of Fast Food Restaurants in Colorado | FindTheHome](http://places.findthehome.com/l/5/Colorado)
**Population:** 59,731 **Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People:** 4.69 **Notable Restaurant:** McAlister's Deli

#8. Nevada: Paradise

[Density of Fast Food Restaurants in Nevada | FindTheHome](http://places.findthehome.com/l/23/Nevada)
**Population:** 223,182 **Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People:** 4.71 **Notable Restaurant:** Izzy's Burger Spa

#7. California: Costa Mesa

[Density of Fast Food Restaurants in California | FindTheHome](http://places.findthehome.com/l/2/California)
**Population:** 111,635 **Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People:** 4.75 **Notable Restaurant:** In-N-Out Burger

#6. Idaho: Rexburg

[Density of Fast Food Restaurants in Idaho | FindTheHome](http://places.findthehome.com/l/33/Idaho)
**Population:** 26,301 **Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People:** 4.94 **Notable Restaurant:** Jimmy John's

#5. Oregon: Redmond

[Density of Fast Food Restaurants in Oregon | FindTheHome](http://places.findthehome.com/l/3/Oregon)
**Population:** 27,002 **Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People:** 5.19 **Notable Restaurant:** Dairy Queen

#4. Texas: Longview

[Density of Fast Food Restaurants in Texas | FindTheHome](http://places.findthehome.com/l/8/Texas)
**Population:** 82,030 **Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People:** 6.22 **Notable Restaurant:** Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers

#3. Wyoming: Rock Springs

[Density of Fast Food Restaurants in Wyoming | FindTheHome](http://places.findthehome.com/l/21/Wyoming)
**Population:** 23,684 **Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People:** 6.76 **Notable Restaurant:** Burger King

#2. Montana: Lockwood

[Density of Fast Food Restaurants in Montana | FindTheHome](http://places.findthehome.com/l/25/Montana)
**Population:** 6,943 **Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People:** 7.20 **Notable Restaurant:** Burger King

#1. New Mexico: Gallup

[Density of Fast Food Restaurants in New Mexico | FindTheHome](http://places.findthehome.com/l/49/New-Mexico)
**Population:** 22,189 **Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People:** 9.46 **Notable Restaurant:** Sonic Drive-In

Explore More Places on FindTheHome

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Kelsey Warner, Graphiq

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