Trade / United States

How many full-service restaurants are in the United States?

258,626 establishments with paid employees in 2023, +3.1% since 2017, employing 5,387,020 people.

UNITED STATES · 2023

258,626

full-service restaurants

Employees: 5,387,020
Average per site: 20.8
Change since 2017: +3.1%
Under 5 employees: 26%

By state

Click a column heading to sort. The last column compares the trade's share of a state's employer businesses with its share nationally: 1.00x is the national average.

Filter states

#	State
1	California	31,333	628,541	+0.5%	0.98x
2	Texas	20,819	493,197	+15.0%	1.00x
3	New York	19,661	321,790	−6.1%	1.17x
4	Florida	18,200	444,025	+9.6%	0.91x
5	Illinois	9,928	188,628	+1.7%	1.00x
6	Pennsylvania	9,433	190,674	−1.9%	0.99x
7	North Carolina	8,543	179,683	+11.4%	1.07x
8	New Jersey	8,060	129,043	+3.1%	1.10x
9	Georgia	7,925	175,639	+9.7%	0.98x
10	Ohio	7,698	188,916	+1.5%	0.98x
11	Michigan	7,198	146,525	+0.5%	1.01x
12	Virginia	7,154	142,779	+3.6%	1.10x
13	Washington	6,724	110,404	+7.2%	1.08x
14	Massachusetts	6,558	133,020	+1.0%	1.15x
15	Colorado	5,074	111,442	+0.8%	0.90x
16	Wisconsin	4,988	87,044	−0.2%	1.11x
17	Tennessee	4,962	121,246	+7.6%	1.07x
18	Indiana	4,796	109,607	+3.0%	1.00x
19	South Carolina	4,583	98,946	+8.4%	1.21x
20	Missouri	4,522	101,104	−0.9%	0.97x
21	Arizona	4,464	115,968	+5.2%	0.89x
22	Oregon	4,240	64,406	−1.5%	1.12x
23	Minnesota	3,879	87,230	+0.2%	0.81x
24	Maryland	3,803	90,952	+6.9%	0.86x
25	Connecticut	3,484	58,365	+2.1%	1.26x
26	Louisiana	3,085	71,744	+5.2%	0.92x
27	Oklahoma	2,992	61,438	+8.6%	1.00x
28	Kentucky	2,808	64,028	+0.1%	0.96x
29	Alabama	2,771	63,096	−3.0%	0.85x
30	Iowa	2,459	44,032	−0.8%	0.95x
31	Nevada	2,368	64,372	+15.0%	0.99x
32	Kansas	2,197	45,439	+1.5%	0.93x
33	Arkansas	2,015	38,541	−1.0%	0.92x
34	Utah	1,799	41,107	+7.9%	0.61x
35	Mississippi	1,752	36,665	+1.2%	0.94x
36	Maine	1,446	22,469	−3.4%	1.08x
37	Nebraska	1,438	27,515	−2.2%	0.82x
38	New Hampshire	1,371	28,814	+2.7%	1.13x
39	New Mexico	1,329	31,295	−3.9%	0.96x
40	Idaho	1,296	25,711	+0.5%	0.72x
41	Hawaii	1,238	30,276	−4.0%	1.22x
42	West Virginia	1,234	23,777	+3.4%	1.11x
43	Rhode Island	1,153	22,883	−0.2%	1.26x
44	Montana	1,060	20,162	−3.7%	0.81x
45	District of Columbia	974	29,842	+7.4%	1.32x
46	Delaware	899	22,174	+9.6%	0.98x
47	South Dakota	675	12,327	−4.5%	0.75x
48	Vermont	595	10,085	−11.3%	0.92x
49	North Dakota	582	12,006	−0.5%	0.74x
50	Alaska	533	8,365	−10.1%	0.78x
51	Wyoming	528	9,683	−8.5%	0.72x

Size of the businesses

Full-service restaurants in the U.S. by employees
Employees per site	Sites	Share
Under 5	67,995	26.3%
5 to 9	44,203	17.1%
10 to 19	54,634	21.1%
20 to 49	63,904	24.7%
50 to 99	22,751	8.8%
100 to 249	5,023	1.9%
250 to 499	76	0.0%

Questions

How many full-service restaurants are there in the United States?

258,626 establishments with paid employees in 2023 per the Census Bureau's County Business Patterns, employing 5,387,020 people.

Which state has the most full-service restaurants?

California has the most with 31,333, followed by Texas (20,819) and New York (19,661). Large states lead simply because they have more people and businesses; the last column shows the trade's share of a state's businesses against the national share.

Read this before using the number

Establishments with paid employees only. Self-employed people with no staff are not in these counts. The figures describe existing businesses, not demand or earnings. See the disclaimer.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns (2023; change measured against 2017, 2019 and 2022). Establishments with paid employees only; employment and payroll carry Census noise infusion. Retrieved November 2, 2026. Method and sources.