Southerners Eat Fast Food More Than Westerners And Northerners, Study Says

Dallas is number one... in terms of its residents most-frequently visiting fast-food restaurants.

According to a Quick-Track study by Sandelman & Associates, 34 percent of the Dallas population frequented a fast-food or quick-service restaurant 20 or more times per month. This gives Dallas the number one title for fast-food users in the country for 2011.

The study tracked attitude, awareness, and usage of quick-service and fast-casual restaurants in more than 90 media markets in the United States, according to Market Watch. 

Of the top 10 super-heavy fast-food user markets (super-heavy meaning 20 or more fast-food visits in the past month), three are in Texas, and three are in the Carolinas. Nine out of the 10 are in the South, with the one exception being the market in Providence, R.I. 

Cities in Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia make up the rest of the top 10 super-heavy fast-food markets in the country. 

Non-users of quick-service and fast-casual restaurants are mostly located in the West and North. A non-user is described as having not visited a fast-food restaurant in the past month.

Monterey/Salinas, Calif., is number one for having the most non-users, with 19.4 percent of the population not frequenting a fast-food restaurant in the past month. 

Nine of the top 10 fast-food non-user markets are in the West and the North, with the one exception being Palm Beach, Fla. 

Rounding out the list of non-users are markets in cities in Oregon, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Alaska, New York, and incidentally, Rhode Island. 

Providence, R.I., appears on both lists, having both 31.5 percent of the population frequent fast-food chains 20 or more times a month, and 16.5 percent frequenting no times in the last month. 

Check out the birthplaces of America's fast-food restaurants to see if there is any connection!