Michigan’s McDonald’s Restaurants are Nation’s Worst, New Study Finds

Article courtesy of Restaurant Furniture

McDonald’s restaurants in Michigan have a lower average rating than any other state in America, at 3.15 out of five based on analysis of 185,666 customer reviews.
Sterling Heights’ McDonald’s are the highest-rated statewide, with an average rating of 3.41.
Of the 10 most populated cities in each state, Roswell, New Mexico, has the best-rated McDonald’s (3.97), while Auburn, Alabama, has the worst (2.86).

Michigan is home to the lowest-rated McDonald’s restaurants in America, according to a brand new study.

The study by Restaurant Furniture examined over 8.7 million customer reviews on Google across 4,867 McDonald’s locations nationwide to determine which areas serve up the best Golden Arches experience.

The report looked at the top 10 cities in each state, analyzing the number of McDonald’s locations and their average ratings. Then, a weighted average of those city-level reviews was used to calculate which states have the highest and lowest-rated McDonald’s overall.

Michigan findings

McDonald’s restaurants in Michigan have a lower average rating than any other state in America, scoring 3.15 based on 185,666 reviews across 105 locations. In fact, the average rating in the Wolverine State is over 15% lower than top-placed Hawaii (3.77).

Locals need to travel to Sterling Heights for the best McDonald’s in the state (3.41), followed by Lansing (3.25). Of the state’s 10 largest cities, Ann Arbor has the lowest-rated McDonald’s restaurants (3.00).

Table: States with the lowest-rated McDonald’s

Rank	State	McDonald’s in Sample	Total Reviews	Average Rating
1	Michigan	105	185,666	3.15
2	Georgia	114	241,209	3.24
=3	Wisconsin	107	151,917	3.25
=3	South Carolina	72	172,484	3.25
=3	Ohio	193	346,236	3.25

Restaurants in Georgia follow closely behind with the second-lowest average rating of 3.24 from 114 locations and 241,209 reviews.

Those living in Ohio, Wisconsin, and South Carolina also have access to some of the nation’s worst-rated McDonald’s restaurants, each recording an average rating of 3.25.

At the other end of the study, Hawaii ranks as the state with the highest-rated McDonald’s restaurants, with an average rating of 3.77 across 48 locations and 68,580 reviews.

Cities with the best and worst McDonald’s

Of the most populated cities in each state, Roswell, New Mexico, claims the title for America’s highest-rated McDonald’s with an impressive average rating of 3.97. Meanwhile, New Mexico only places eighth overall among all 50 states.

Auburn, Alabama, sits at rockbottom with a rating of just 2.86. For a better McDonald’s experience in Alabama, customers could visit Dothan, where the average rating is 24% higher (3.55).

Nick Warren, Head of Ecommerce at Restaurant Furniture, commented, “This research really gives a great insight into how differently people across America feel about their McDonald’s experiences.

“What’s interesting is how some cities in lower-ranked states still manage to achieve outstanding ratings. This highlights that individual restaurant management and staff can make a dramatic difference in customer experience, regardless of statewide trends.”

Sources:

Google Maps

Methodology:

In June 2025, we pulled McDonald’s restaurant and review data from Google Maps for the top 10 cities in every state, to see how the presence and quality of McDonald’s locations stacked up across all 50 US states at a city level.
After calculating an average rating for each city, we used those to create a weighted average score for each state.
The final step was to rank the states from highest to lowest based on these scores.

Table: The average rating of McDonald’s restaurants in each U.S. state

Rank	State	McDonald’s in Sample	Total Reviews	Average Rating
1	Hawaii	48	68,580	3.77
2	New Jersey	45	94,346	3.68
3	California	324	562,342	3.65
4	Connecticut	44	60,728	3.62
5	Idaho	43	69,649	3.61
6	Alaska	25	28,211	3.56
=7	North Dakota	26	32,646	3.55
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