The Road Food Index

Name: The Road Food Index
Creator: Charge & Chew
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

How often is there somewhere to eat within a 10-minute walk of a US fast charger, and which chains, interstates and states do best? We matched all 13,926 public DC fast-charger sites in the US Department of Energy’s database against 90 restaurant and store chains mapped in OpenStreetMap. Data as of November 11, 2026.

Key findings

77.5% of US DC fast-charger sites (10,797 of 13,926) have somewhere to eat within a 10-minute walk.
McDonald's is within a 10-minute walk of more fast chargers than any other restaurant chain: 4,649 sites, 33.4% of all of them, just ahead of Starbucks (4,552).
Of the restaurant chains, In-N-Out has a fast charger within a walk of the most of its locations: 52.9% of 431. Among all chains it is Flying J, at 75.7% of 218.
I-5 is the best interstate for food at a fast charger: 90.4% of its chargers have somewhere to eat within a walk. I-91 is the worst, at 63.6%.
On the 152 drives we plan, the longest stretch with no DC fast charger within 5 miles of the road is 144 miles, between Lusk, WY and Rapid City, SD (Denver to Rapid City).

Find a stop with food on the map →

Chains next to the most fast chargers

Out of 13,926 DC fast-charger sites, how many have the chain within a 10-minute walk (800 m), how many within two minutes, and the typical walk. The top 25; the CSV has all 90.

#	Chain	Sites	Share	2-min walk	Typical walk
1	🍟 McDonald's	4,649	33.4%	1,187	5 min
2	☕ Starbucks	4,552	32.7%	1,369	4 min
3	🥪 Subway	3,799	27.3%	1,016	4 min
4	🌮 Taco Bell	2,638	18.9%	563	5 min
5	👑 Burger King	2,427	17.4%	607	5 min
6	🍔 Wendy's	2,217	15.9%	494	5 min
7	🍩 Dunkin'	2,134	15.3%	552	4 min
8	🌯 Chipotle	2,004	14.4%	418	5 min
9	💊 CVS	1,990	14.3%	504	5 min
10	🛒 Walmart	1,813	13.0%	458	5 min
11	💊 Walgreens	1,749	12.6%	321	5 min
12	🐔 Chick-fil-A	1,525	11.0%	305	5 min
13	🎯 Target	1,448	10.4%	436	5 min
14	🐼 Panda Express	1,413	10.1%	277	5 min
15	🥖 Panera Bread	1,358	9.8%	270	5 min
16	🥩 Arby's	1,284	9.2%	291	5 min
17	🍗 KFC	1,190	8.5%	217	5 min
18	🍕 Domino's	1,143	8.2%	191	6 min
19	🔨 Home Depot	1,129	8.1%	67	6 min
20	🛒 Aldi	1,031	7.4%	166	5 min
21	🍕 Pizza Hut	1,018	7.3%	211	5 min
22	🍗 Popeyes	1,015	7.3%	195	5 min
23	🍔 Five Guys	917	6.6%	183	5 min
24	🥞 IHOP	911	6.5%	175	5 min
25	🥪 Jersey Mike's	911	6.5%	201	5 min

Chains with a charger at the most of their locations

The other way round: of each chain’s US locations, the share with a DC fast charger within a 10-minute walk. Chains with at least 50 locations; the top 15. At the other end: Dollar General (6.0% of 11,080), Casey's (11.2% of 1,578), Kroger (16.3% of 1,347).

#	Chain	Locations	With a charger	Share
1	⛽ Flying J	218	165	75.7%
2	⛽ Pilot	510	315	61.8%
3	🪑 IKEA	73	45	61.6%
4	🦫 Buc-ee's	61	37	60.7%
5	💻 Best Buy	939	501	53.4%
6	🍔 In-N-Out	431	228	52.9%
7	🐦 Red Robin	455	238	52.3%
8	☕ Peet's Coffee	256	132	51.6%
9	🍔 Shake Shack	335	172	51.3%
10	🛒 Fred Meyer	149	75	50.3%
11	🌭 Portillo's	90	44	48.9%
12	📦 Costco	700	331	47.3%
13	🪵 Cracker Barrel	624	294	47.1%
14	🛍️ Trader Joe's	605	284	46.9%
15	🛒 Meijer	383	179	46.7%

Interstates, best to worst for food

Every fast charger of 50 kW or more within 3 miles of the interstate, the share with somewhere to eat within a 10-minute walk, how many such stops there are per 100 miles, and the longest stretch with none of those chargers. I-35, I-74, I-24 have no gap figure: their mapped line is not one continuous road.

#	Interstate	Miles	Chargers	With food	Food stops / 100 mi	Longest gap
1	I-5	1,347	708	90.4%	47.5	35 mi
2	I-96	186	76	86.8%	35.6	23 mi
3	I-64	936	153	86.3%	14.1	80 mi
4	I-10	2,430	480	86.2%	17.0	106 mi
5	I-15	1,407	293	86.0%	17.9	116 mi
6	I-85	656	180	85.6%	23.5	51 mi
7	I-71	336	60	85.0%	15.2	38 mi
8	I-20	1,520	201	84.6%	11.2	75 mi
9	I-80	2,846	520	84.2%	15.4	100 mi
10	I-81	832	138	83.3%	13.8	53 mi
11	I-90	3,011	568	83.1%	15.7	116 mi
12	I-75	1,748	415	82.4%	19.6	56 mi
13	I-95	1,861	795	82.3%	35.1	57 mi
14	I-40	2,507	273	81.7%	8.9	104 mi
15	I-77	584	98	81.6%	13.7	43 mi
16	I-70	2,109	330	80.9%	12.7	72 mi
17	I-94	1,577	339	80.8%	17.4	135 mi
18	I-55	931	146	80.8%	12.7	86 mi
19	I-4	128	77	80.5%	48.3	21 mi
20	I-26	336	46	80.4%	11.0	62 mi
21	I-30	362	59	79.7%	13.0	42 mi
22	I-25	1,045	155	79.4%	11.8	113 mi
23	I-65	873	120	79.2%	10.9	43 mi
24	I-35	1,530	242	78.9%	12.5	—
25	I-45	285	67	76.1%	17.9	26 mi
26	I-84	751	163	74.2%	16.1	72 mi
27	I-44	615	79	73.4%	9.4	44 mi
28	I-74	874	75	73.3%	6.3	—
29	I-24	343	44	68.2%	8.7	—
30	I-91	278	99	63.6%	22.6	36 mi

The longest gaps on popular drives

On each of the 152 drives we plan, the longest stretch with no DC fast charger within 5 miles of the road, counting the start and the end. A drive and its way back are listed once.

Drive	Gap	Between
Denver → Rapid City	144 mi	Lusk, WY → Rapid City, SD mile 257 to 401 of 406
Salt Lake City → Jackson	123 mi	Evanston, WY → Afton, WY mile 81 to 204 of 273
Dallas → Kansas City	119 mi	Joplin, MO → Louisburg, KS mile 339 to 458 of 497
Dallas → Amarillo	108 mi	Childress, TX → Amarillo, TX mile 249 to 357 of 363
San Antonio → El Paso	107 mi	Ozona, TX → Fort Stockton, TX mile 206 to 313 of 552
Atlanta → Destin	98 mi	Greenville, AL → Crestview, FL mile 203 to 301 of 331
Denver → Salt Lake City	98 mi	Rock Springs, WY → Evanston, WY mile 341 to 439 of 519
Los Angeles → Grand Canyon Village	98 mi	Yermo, CA → Essex Fenner, CA mile 124 to 222 of 491
Los Angeles → Phoenix	98 mi	Quartzsite, AZ → Buckeye, AZ mile 244 to 342 of 373
Phoenix → Albuquerque	97 mi	Payson, AZ → Holbrook, AZ mile 90 to 187 of 420

States

The share of each state’s fast-charger sites with somewhere to eat within a 10-minute walk, sites of 150 kW or more, and the chain most often next to them. States with at least 25 sites; Washington DC (11) has fewer.

#	State	Sites	With food	150 kW+	Most common chain
1	Hawaii	48	89.6%	13	Starbucks 27
2	Virginia	349	87.7%	221	Starbucks 146
3	Arizona	219	87.7%	157	Starbucks 83
4	New Hampshire	71	87.3%	38	Dunkin' 50
5	North Dakota	41	85.4%	16	McDonald's 18
6	California	2,382	85.1%	1,388	Starbucks 1,358
7	Delaware	52	84.6%	33	McDonald's 22
8	Arkansas	61	83.6%	38	McDonald's 24
9	Georgia	464	81.9%	263	McDonald's 180
10	New Jersey	370	81.9%	222	Dunkin' 162
11	Nevada	141	81.6%	109	Starbucks 59
12	Ohio	382	80.9%	199	McDonald's 148
13	Florida	841	80.0%	636	McDonald's 282
14	Connecticut	165	80.0%	83	Dunkin' 92
15	Oregon	278	79.1%	152	Subway 119
16	Pennsylvania	395	79.0%	264	Dunkin' 118
17	Washington	469	78.9%	321	Starbucks 245
18	Texas	854	78.7%	632	McDonald's 265
19	Maryland	337	78.6%	159	Starbucks 118
20	Utah	173	78.0%	110	Subway 68
21	Illinois	603	77.8%	370	McDonald's 217
22	South Carolina	170	77.6%	118	McDonald's 55
23	Kansas	80	77.5%	50	McDonald's 35
24	Oklahoma	198	77.3%	106	McDonald's 46
25	Louisiana	87	77.0%	47	McDonald's 36
26	Missouri	199	75.9%	105	McDonald's 87
27	Indiana	208	75.5%	123	McDonald's 80
28	North Carolina	340	75.3%	215	McDonald's 106
29	West Virginia	56	75.0%	24	McDonald's 19
30	Idaho	76	72.4%	43	Subway 34
31	Tennessee	184	72.3%	111	McDonald's 75
32	Massachusetts	410	72.2%	167	Dunkin' 192
33	Colorado	376	71.5%	221	Starbucks 138
34	New York	653	71.4%	409	Dunkin' 226
35	Michigan	481	71.1%	282	McDonald's 160
36	Wyoming	45	71.1%	29	McDonald's 14
37	Kentucky	102	70.6%	71	McDonald's 40
38	South Dakota	45	68.9%	17	Starbucks 8
39	Mississippi	79	68.4%	41	Waffle House 20
40	Rhode Island	38	68.4%	20	Dunkin' 20
41	Alabama	182	67.0%	104	McDonald's 58
42	Minnesota	311	66.9%	123	Subway 91
43	Iowa	141	66.7%	90	McDonald's 40
44	Maine	99	65.7%	60	McDonald's 30
45	Wisconsin	249	63.5%	139	McDonald's 82
46	New Mexico	149	63.1%	79	Subway 45
47	Nebraska	87	60.9%	36	McDonald's 25
48	Montana	51	51.0%	35	Subway 16
49	Vermont	99	48.5%	36	Dunkin' 30
50	Alaska	25	32.0%	7	Taco Bell 6

Driving for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 26. These are the 12 longest of the 152 drives we plan, with where lunch falls if you leave at 8 am. Each guide has the full plan, every charger on the way and the food a walk from each one.

Drive	Distance	Lunch, leaving 8 am	Longest gap
San Francisco → Portland	634 mi 12h 14m	Redding, CA at 12:20 pm 🍗 Popeyes 1 min walk	35 mi
Atlanta → Miami	661 mi 12h 02m	Valdosta, GA at 12:25 pm 🥪 Subway 2 min walk	43 mi
San Francisco → Las Vegas	566 mi 10h 32m	Lost Hills, CA at 12:45 pm 🌮 Taco Bell 1 min walk	37 mi
Denver → Kansas City	603 mi 10h 19m	Colby, KS at 1:20 pm 🥪 Subway 1 min walk	67 mi
New York → Raleigh	488 mi 10h 05m	Columbia, MD at 12:25 pm 🍟 McDonald's 1 min walk	54 mi
Chicago → Kansas City	510 mi 9h 38m	Springfield, IL at 12:05 pm 🍟 McDonald's 1 min walk	95 mi
Dallas → Kansas City	497 mi 9h 26m	Checotah, OK at 12:20 pm 🍟 McDonald's 3 min walk	119 mi
Denver → Omaha	540 mi 9h 17m	Ogallala, NE at 11:55 am 🍔 Wendy's 2 min walk	86 mi
Dallas → New Orleans	505 mi 9h 13m	Natchitoches, LA at 1:15 pm 👑 Burger King 2 min walk	64 mi
Seattle → Boise	491 mi 9h 07m	Stanfield, OR at 1:15 pm 🥪 Subway 1 min walk	49 mi
Denver → Salt Lake City	519 mi 9h 01m	Rawlins, WY at 12:25 pm 🍳 Denny's 1 min walk	98 mi
San Antonio → El Paso	552 mi 8h 55m	Fort Stockton, TX at 1:25 pm 🍕 Domino's 2 min walk	107 mi

All 152 road trip guides →

How we counted

Chargers: every public DC fast-charger site in the US DOE / NREL Alternative Fuels Data Center station list, all networks, as the map shows them: under 24 kW, private and truck-only sites left out, and one site per location however many stalls it lists. 13,926 sites.
Chains: restaurant and store locations from OpenStreetMap, by brand. Map entries of one chain within 250 m of each other count as one location (a store and its fuel station are often mapped separately). OpenStreetMap is volunteer-made and misses some locations.
Within a walk: within 800 m in a straight line, about 10 minutes at 3 mph. Walk times are minimums; the real walk is usually longer, and a place whose straight line crosses a freeway or a divided highway is marked “across hwy”. “Somewhere to eat” is any of the 50 restaurant chains we track or an ice cream shop.
Interstates: the road as OpenStreetMap maps it; miles are measured along the line the map draws, which merges both directions and can differ a little from official lengths.
Drives: the 152 routes of our road trip guides, as the app plans them.

Data as of November 11, 2026. It is refreshed weekly, so the numbers on this page move with it.

Download the data

Chains CSV, all 90 Interstates CSV, all 30 States CSV, all 51 Drives CSV, all 152, with their longest gaps

How to cite

Charge & Chew, “The Road Food Index,” data as of November 11, 2026, https://chargeandchew.com/road-food-index/. Charger data from the US Department of Energy (AFDC); chain locations © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).

The tables and charts on this page are free to reuse, including commercially, under CC BY 4.0: credit “Charge & Chew Road Food Index” with a link to this page, and keep the OpenStreetMap credit above.

Questions about the data: chargeandchew@gmail.com.