The Only US States Without A Dunkin'

Dunkin's slogan may be "America runs on Dunkin'," but that's not necessarily true of all parts of America. While there are over 9,000 Dunkin' restaurants in the United States, several states and territories don't have a single location. If you live in Idaho, Puerto Rico, North Dakota, South Dakota, American Samoa, Washington, Oregon, Guam, Montana, the U.S. Virgin Islands, or the Northern Mariana Islands then you're out of luck, according to ScrapeHero. You won't be able to partake in Dunkin's Short King promotion – or any other for that matter.

The lack of a single Dunkin' in any of these locations stands in contrast with somewhere like New York, which has the most Dunkin' locations in the country. As a state, New York has 1,431 Dunkin' stores as of April 2024. It's followed by Massachusetts with 1,051 and Florida with 904, which round out the top three. Why no love for the Midwest and the West Coast, as well as some of the country's territories?

Well, it's worth noting that Dunkin' has been slowly growing its spread across the United States. In fact, Dunkin' didn't even build in states like California, Colorado, Minnesota, or Utah until the 2010s. Dunkin' opened its first location in Hawaii in 2017, which grew to 12 by 2021. It added more than 100 in California since then and around 50 in Colorado, suggesting the company is quick to invest in an area once it does so. It's all part of a corporate strategy.

Dunkin' actively tries to concentrate on one area and improve its following rather than taking a scatter-shot approach. In an interview with Entrepreneur, Grant Benson, the company's senior vice president of franchising and development claims that there's not a specific reason the chain hasn't branched out to a state. "It's not so important to us to just sprinkle new stores over a wide area," he said. "Once we make a commitment to go somewhere, we go deep. But there's certainly nothing unattractive about any state, and we look forward to being represented everywhere." 

Still, it makes sense from a business point of view to go after states with larger metropolitan areas. It's perhaps no coincidence then that several of the states without a Dunkin' restaurant also rank among the lowest populations in the country.

For instance, Montana's population is just over 1,000,000 while North and South Dakota have populations of just about 800,000 and 900,000, respectively. While Dunkin' is present in other low-population states like Vermont, midwest states like the three mentioned have large areas of unpopulated wilderness. Large parts of the state are devoted to national parks and other wildlife reserves. They also don't have the benefit of being close to metropolitan areas as some of the smaller states like Rhode Island, which has a Dunkin', do being on the East Coast.

As for the West Coast states of Oregon and Washington, it's likely that Dunkin' is approaching a venture into these states with caution and strategic thinking. Dunkin' once had several locations in Washington, but its last location closed in 2002. The chain found it difficult to compete both with the encroach of Krispy Kreme on the doughnut side of things as well as the juggernaut that is Starbucks (and its ice coffees). An issue that Dunkin' may have faced is that both Oregon and Washington have a strong coffee culture with a focus on local mom-and-pop coffee shops. 

As far as brand spacing goes, Starbucks is a difficult presence to compete with. As of 2024, Washington is home to 739 Starbucks locations, making it one of the states with the most locations. While states like Florida and Texas have more Starbucks and also have Dunkin', Starbucks has a home-field advantage on the West Coast. The coffee chain actually started in Seattle's Pike Place Market, meaning it's not easy to go toe to toe with Starbucks on its home turf.

Meanwhile, Oregon has more Starbucks per capita than any other state, with one Starbucks per 10,450 residents. Dunkin' has completely abandoned the West Coast except for a presence in California, but the chain has turned to establish a foothold abroad venturing to countries like the Netherlands and China. Did you know the doughnuts taste different at every Dunkin' store?