The Top 2 Burger Chains In The US Are Both From California, According To Yelp

California might have a reputation for loving healthy food, but according to a new survey by Yelp, it's also responsible for giving this country its two most beloved burger chains. That America loves burgers isn't a surprise. According to the HuffPost, our country consumes 50 billion burgers a year, which is almost three burgers per person per week. At those kinds of numbers, calling burgers the national food might be an understatement. And while people love homemade burger recipes, fast food burger chains are probably the defining form of the food. Three of the Technomic report's 10 largest chains in the U.S., McDonald's, Wendy's, and Burger King, are burger spots, with only coffee chains even coming close to their ubiquity. But when Yelp set about looking at the country's burger chains, it wasn't looking at size; it was looking at how much people actually like the food. In that regard, the top two were the California-born In-N-Out and The Habit Burger Grill.

In survey reviews of burger spots, Yelp limited its list to chains with more than 100 locations across multiple states, and California was the king. The number one overall score went to In-N-Out, which shouldn't be a surprise given the fervent fandom the chain is known for. What's more surprising is The Habit at number two, given it's a very recent entry in the national burger chain category. The restaurant was only acquired by Yum! Brands for national expansion in 2020.

The Habit Burger Grill has actually been around for a while, but has mostly stayed a local fixture along coastal Southern California. The original location, then called Hamburger Habit, opened in 1969 in Goleta, California, outside of Santa Barbara. Two employees and brothers, Brent and Bruce Reichard, bought it in 1980 and expanded locally in the 90s, once hitting 24 locations. But when Yum! bought the company, there were only eight left. Since then, the expansion has been rapid, hitting over 350 locations just five years later. Of course, if people love the burgers this much, that expansion is probably justified.

The winner, In-N-Out, needs no introduction, but despite its fame, it's still a relatively small chain. In-N-Out has no locations on the East Coast, and only around 400 total. But the slow expansion has helped keep In-N-Out's limited menu focused on quality, part of the reason its burgers are still so beloved.

Rounding out Yelp's rankings were the more expensive and high-end Shake Shack at three, and Culver's and its butter burgers at four. But five was also a surprise, and also from Southern California. Islands, which is more of a full-service sit-down restaurant specializing in burgers, rounded out the top rankings. Given that the original McDonald's location was also founded in Southern California, it's not much of a stretch to declare the Golden State the burger capital of America.