Americans may be known for scarfing down hamburgers and hot dogs, but new research shows we're apparently obsessed with Mexican food -- so much that 99% of all Americans live near at least one Mexican restaurant.
According to a Pew Research Center analysis of data from SafeGraph, 85% of U.S. counties have at least one Mexican restaurant. The 15% of counties without any Mexican restaurants have only 4 million people living in them -- just 1% of the total U.S. population.
In 10 U.S. counties, Mexican eateries account for more than a third of all restaurants. Eight of these 10 counties are in Texas, and most are along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to the research.
Mexican restaurants make up an especially large share of all restaurants in Southwestern states that border Mexico, the analysis shows. They account for 22% of all restaurants in New Mexico, 20% in Texas, 18% in Arizona and 17% in California.
The analysis also shows 51% of all Mexican restaurants in the U.S. are located in just five states: California, Texas, Florida, New York and Illinois.
Not surprisingly, California and Texas -- which are home to a majority of the Mexican American population -- top the list. Around 40% of all Mexican restaurants in the country are located in the two border states: 22% are in California, while 17% are in Texas, according to the analysis. Florida, New York and Illinois each has 4% of the nationwide total of these restaurants.
The analysis found that most Mexican restaurants nationwide (22%) are "fast-food," followed by 12% that specialize in serving tacos, 8% classified as food trucks or carts, and 6% that offer "Tex-Mex" food.
As for why Mexican restaurants are so popular, some 37.2 million people in the U.S. trace their ancestry to Mexico, making Mexican Americans by far the largest Hispanic origin group in the nation, according to the Pew Research Center.
Mexican restaurants also tend to be affordably priced.
"Among restaurants with pricing data, 61% of Mexican restaurants are rated as one 'dollar sign' on Yelp's four-point pricing scale," the analysis noted. "Less than 1% of all Mexican restaurants nationwide – just 251 in total – have a rating of three or four dollar signs on the Yelp scale. Around a quarter of these more expensive Mexican restaurants are in Los Angeles County; Cook County, where Chicago is located; and New York County, home of Manhattan."