At One Place

How many McDonald's are there?

How many McDonald's are there?
about 43,000 in over 100 countries
There is roughly one McDonald's for every 190,000 people alive, and the company serves on the order of 70 million customers a day — about 1% of humanity.

McDonald's operates roughly 43,000 restaurants across more than 100 countries, and about 95% of them are franchised rather than company-owned. The United States has around 13,500 and China around 6,800, with China the fastest-growing market by a wide margin. The company has publicly targeted 50,000 restaurants by 2027. Subway has at times had more outlets, though far fewer of them are large restaurants.

How the figure is arrived at

A regulatory filing, not an estimate. McDonald's reports its systemwide restaurant count in its annual Form 10-K, broken down by segment and by company-operated versus franchised, because those numbers drive its revenue disclosures.

How confident it is

Low estimate
41,000
High estimate
45,000
Spread
1.1× between the bounds

Restaurant counts are as of the most recent annual report and rise by roughly 1,000 to 1,500 a year.

Other things people built counts

Common questions

How many McDonald's are there?
about 43,000 in over 100 countries
How is that estimated?
A regulatory filing, not an estimate. McDonald's reports its systemwide restaurant count in its annual Form 10-K, broken down by segment and by company-operated versus franchised, because those numbers drive its revenue disclosures.

Related pages

Sources

  1. Official vendor product documentation — At One Place

How these figures are compiled and checked