Market Penetration: The Furthest Any American Lives From A McDonald’s Restaurant Is 107 Miles

Or 145 driving on roads.
Here’s a map:

This map is the brainchild of Stephen Von Worley, who got to thinking about the strip malls sprawling out along I-5 in California’s ever less rural Central Valley: “Just how far can you get from generic convenience? And how would you figure that out?” There are over 13,000 McDonald’s restaurants in the US, or about 1 for every 23,000 Americans. But even market penetration this advanced doesn’t mean that McDonald’s is everywhere. Somewhere in South Dakota is the McFarthest Spot, the place in the US geographically most removed from the nearest McD’s (*). If you started out from this location, a few miles north of State Highway 20 (which runs latitudinally between Highways 73 in the west and 65 in the east), you’d have to drive 145 miles to get your Big Mac (if you could fly, however, it’d be only 107 miles).

I know we’re supposed to hate McDonald’s because they sell unhealthy food and they’re a member in good standing of corporate Amerikkka or something along those lines, but you can’t sneeze at the company’s success. Clearly they’re doing something Americans like. And something the world likes too, given their successful penetration into foreign markets as well.