The State With The Fewest Fast-Food Restaurants

The U.S. is known for its predilection for fast food, but there are inevitably some states that aren't nearly as keen on it. The state that falls at the bottom of the list, with the fewest fast food restaurants per capita, is Vermont. According to a report by Pricelisto, Vermonters have only 27.65 fast food restaurants per 100,000 residents.

That number might not give you a ton of immediate context, but compare it with the state that has the most restaurants per capita, which is West Virginia. The Mountain State has 49.04 fast food restaurants per 100,000 residents — nearly twice as many as Vermont. 

To round out the states where fast food restaurants are least prevalent, there's New York (29.47), Idaho (29.78), California (30.05), and Alaska (30.82). Vermont's status is pretty drastic when you realize that even the average Alaskan has more access to fast food than Vermonters, considering Alaska's not even a part of the contiguous United States.

As ubiquitous as the chain seems to be, Vermont also has the distinction of having the only state capital without a McDonald's location (or a Starbucks, for that matter). On a larger scale, the state of Vermont doesn't have a single Panda Express location, nor does it contain a Chick-Fil-A or a Popeyes (so the chicken sandwich wars exist only on Twitter for Vermonters). These are chains many of us take for granted, since there always seems to be one or the other nearby, but Vermont remains steadfastly clear of them for now.

But Vermonters do need to eat, and there are plenty of interesting local options, like a place called Cliff House, a mountain restaurant that you can only get to by gondola. Plus, considering Vermont is known for its cheese and dairy (Cabot, anyone?), maple syrup, and, of course, Ben and Jerry's ice cream, fast food is probably the last thing on everyone's mind there.