The Not-So-Surprising State With The Most KFC Restaurants

Kentucky Fried Chicken is a popular chicken chain, make no mistake. From the United States to Japan (where the Colonel has surprisingly gained a cult following during the Christmas season), KFC has thousands of locations all across the globe. But there's one U.S. state that holds the supreme amount of Kentucky Fried Chicken chains out of all the other states. It should be painfully obvious, of course, as to which state has the most Kentucky Fried Chickens — in fact, you're probably sitting at the computer, nodding your head in total confidence that you know the answer to this question.

That's right: the state with the most Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants is California.

According to ScrapeHero, out of the 3,895 KFC locations across the United States, 11% (or 427) stores are located in California. California boasts over two hundred more KFC restaurants than the second and third-place states Texas and Florida, with Texas having 279 restaurants and Florida having 255 restaurants, respectively.  If you were to go to Los Angeles, you'd most likely find one out of twenty-two separate stores scattered around the City of Angels. 

But just how far-reaching is Colonel Sander's deep-fried grip on California? Where can you find KFC restaurants in the Golden State? And what is it about California that makes it so attractive to a fast-food juggernaut like Kentucky Fried Chicken to begin with?

When you think of a bunch of KFCs in California, you're probably thinking of a lot of restaurants in and around the major metropolitan area. While it is true that you can find a good number of Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants in Los Angeles and San Francisco, it would seem that virtually every part of California has at least one KFC restaurant.

According to the official list of locations, KFC has restaurants across an enormous number of counties and cities across the state, ranging from four locations in Anaheim to one location in Yucca Valley. If you're in Long Beach for the summer, you can stop at one of five KFCs while if you're visiting Huntington Beach, you can choose from three different KFCs. Although the more major city centers have the most KFC locations, it's still very impressive to see how many counties in California have at least one place to satisfy your craving for the Colonel.

For comparison, the state of Kentucky — the state for which KFC is named for — reportedly only has 101 locations, 326 locations less than what you'd expect to find in California. What is it about California that its number of Kentucky Fried Chickens trumps the state that the restaurant is named after? The answer may lie in the state's history with the fast-food industry and the roots of car culture in the United States.

California isn't just swarming with KFCs, but it's also the hub of many other fast-food giants too. McDonald's, for example, has an incredible 1,218 stores across the state, while Taco Bell has an impressive 902 stores. While it may seem like modern fast-food trying to cash in on the tourist industry of California's sunny beaches, the truth is that fast food not only got its start in California, but the rise of car culture helped to shape it into what it is today.

Many fast-food chains began in California in the 1940s and 1950s, such as McDonald's, Taco Bell, and the famous California staple In-N-Out. It would only make sense that restaurants that had achieved such a successful start in their home state would have the strongest ties there. Other fast-food restaurants, like KFC, would also take notice of the brisk business their competitors were making and would set up shop there to attract customers.  The rise of fast food was also helped by the introduction of the highway system in the 1950s, which encouraged a culture of traveling and driving, especially in the West Coast. Fast-food restaurants were not only growing to meet the demands of hungry drivers on the go, but were also remodeling themselves with drive-thru windows and lanes to ensure faster service.

While KFC didn't get its start in California, the atmosphere and success of the fast-food industry there made it a lucrative place for business.