The Only State In The US Where You Won't Be Able To Find A Dairy Queen

Simple ice cream cones are nice, but when you want a real whopper of a frozen treat, you need to roll up to the nearest Dairy Queen and get yourself a Blizzard chock-full of candy, nuts, or whatever your heart desires (even though the dessert isn't technically ice cream). Fortunately, as long as you're in the U.S., you're never too far from a DQ — the chain has 4,269 locations throughout the country, according to ScrapeHero. But even with thousands of ice cream shops, there's one state where you won't find any Dairy Queen locations whatsoever.

Dairy Queens are generously scattered throughout New England, but for some reason, there's not one in the state of Vermont. Even Alaska and Hawaii have multiple Dairy Queens, despite the challenges of provisioning in remote and island locations. Washington, D.C. is also Dairy Queen-free, but with around 28 locations in Maryland and 87 in Virginia, DCers don't have to go too far outside of city limits for their Blizzard fix. Vermonters, for whatever reason, have to cross state lines to get theirs.

There's no clear reason that Dairy Queen is yet to open in the Green Mountain State. In fact, the company has explored the possibility in the past, although it seems nothing was ever able to materialize. We can only speculate as to why Vermont is the only state without a DQ, but it has been suggested that there are two reasons, and they go by the names of Ben & Jerry. B&J's might be best known for their pints sold in retail stores, but they do have a sprawling empire of scoop shops as well. Being that Ben & Jerry's is a Vermont-based company, it's possible that Vermonters are just loyal to their local ice cream heroes.

That said, it's worth noting that Vermont is a relatively small state. There are Vermont-sized portions of some western states, like Nevada and Utah, that are also without Dairy Queen shops. If a Vermonter is really craving a Dilly Bar, they may have to cross state lines, but they're still closer to their nearest DQ than someone living in a rural area out west — or even in Los Angeles.

By contrast, the Midwest is flush with Dairy Queen shops — Ohio and Illinois each have over 250 locations alone. This makes sense, considering Minnesota is where the chain is headquartered. Texas, too, is littered with them; in fact, it's the state with the most DQ locations, clocking in at 581 at last count, though they're largely concentrated in the eastern half of the state. Even tiny Rhode Island boasts two Dairy Queens of its own, per VinePair.

But for the moment, Vermonters have no such luck. Unless and until the franchise opens up in the state, diehard DQ fans living in Vermont will have to take a road trip to get their hands on the goods. Fortunately, they'll be able to have a whole meal once they get there — as we understand it, DQ has a whole savory food menu, not that we'd know personally. Ice cream is a nutritionally complete food, right?