Hawaii has emerged as the state with the highest-rated McDonald's locations in the United States, according to a recent survey by Restaurant Furniture. New Jersey secured the second spot, surpassing its neighbor New York, which ranked lower due to issues including high prices.
The survey evaluated over 8.7 million Google customer reviews across 4,867 McDonald's branches nationwide. Researchers analyzed the top 10 cities within each state, considering the number of locations and their average ratings to determine a weighted average for each region. This method aimed to identify which areas offer the best overall McDonald's experience.
Hawaii's McDonald's locations achieved an average rating of 3.77 based on 68,580 reviews. Customers frequently praised the availability of localized menu items, such as the rice and eggs with Portuguese sausage and spam.
New Jersey followed with an average rating of 3.68 from 94,346 reviews. The state's McDonald's locations outperformed those in New York, which recorded an average rating of 3.54. Some New York customers cited high prices, with a large tender meal costing as much as $16.99.
California claimed third place with an average rating of 3.65, supported by a substantial sample size of 562,342 reviews. Connecticut and Idaho rounded out the top five, with average ratings of 3.62 and 3.61, respectively.
On the other end of the spectrum, Michigan received the lowest average rating at 3.15, based on 185,666 reviews. Customer feedback for Michigan locations included complaints about cleanliness and service.
Georgia ranked as the second-lowest, with an average rating of 3.24 across 241,209 reviews. Ohio, Wisconsin, and South Carolina tied for the third-lowest rating at 3.25.
Individually, Roswell, New Mexico, recorded the highest-rated McDonald's location with an average of 3.97. Conversely, Auburn, Alabama, had the lowest-rated location, scoring 2.86.
The survey generally indicated that Western and Northeastern states tended to have higher-rated McDonald's experiences compared to states in the South, which featured a larger proportion of the lowest-rated locations.