KFC has permanently closed 312 restaurants across the United States between July 2025 and July 2026, representing a 7.6% decrease in the chain's national footprint. The state of California, which has the largest number of KFC locations in the U.S. with 376, saw the most closures with 44 restaurants shuttered during this period.
This analysis, conducted by search visibility platform Local Falcon, identified closed locations by comparing the chain's public store locator data from July 2025 to July 2026 and verifying those that produced a 404 error against Google Maps.
Following California, Texas experienced the second-highest number of closures with 34 locations, and Ohio saw 18 restaurants close. While California and Texas lost the most physical locations, Kansas experienced the largest percentage of closures, with 8 out of its 38 locations permanently closing.
Despite these nationwide closures, KFC's parent company, Yum! Brands, reported a 7% unit growth in its second-quarter earnings. The company also noted the opening of 660 new restaurants in 55 countries during the first quarter of the year.
The analysis also highlighted KFC's standing among major fried chicken chains in terms of customer ratings. KFC averaged 3.42 stars across its 2,885 rated U.S. locations. In comparison, Chick-fil-A received an average rating of 4.30 stars from 3,306 locations, and Raising Cane’s averaged 4.29 stars.
In other recent news, KFC announced the limited-time return of its popcorn chicken nuggets, a popular item that was originally available in the 1990s before being discontinued in 2023.