Dunkin’, Not Starbucks, Owns Pennsylvania’s Coffee Scene
Ten Northeast states crown Dunkin’ over Starbucks in search interest, and Pennsylvania is one of them, according to a nationwide coffee-habits study from Innerbody Research.
Starbucks still leads everywhere else.
This is where Dunkin’, not Starbucks, owns Pennsylvania’s coffee scene.
Behind the Coffee Rankings
Innerbody Research built its study from Google Trends data on coffee-related searches: Coffee shops, major chains, beans, brewing gear, and popular drinks.
Researchers narrowed a broad list of coffee chains down to 15 well-known brands.
For each one, they compared search interest tied to that chain, including searches for its menu and its nearby locations.
That comparison fed a Search Interest Index Innerbody built for every state.
Innerbody last updated its findings in September 2026.
No lab work.
No taste test.
It’s just what people type into a search bar when they’re deciding where to get their coffee, state by state.
The state landed in Dunkin’s column, and here’s what that looks like once you dig past the headline.
Pennsylvania’s Search-Interest Gap
Pennsylvania sits inside a ten-state Northeast bloc where Dunkin’ wins the search-interest race: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
That’s the whole bloc.
Starbucks doesn’t lose much ground anywhere else, though.
The Seattle chain comes out on top in 21 states plus Washington, D.C., which makes it the single most dominant name in the whole study.
The state is one of the few genuine exceptions to that pattern, not a coin flip that happened to land Dunkin’s way.
Pennsylvania’s overall coffee search interest ranks 12th nationally, with a Search Interest Index of 53.36 in Innerbody’s data.
In plain terms, that puts Pennsylvania in the middle of the pack, well behind the country’s most coffee-obsessed states, but still clear enough to hand Dunkin’ the state’s chain-loyalty crown.
Pennsylvanians searching for coffee chains type Dunkin’s name more than Starbucks’.
They’re mostly doing what anyone does when they search a business, checking a menu or finding the nearest location.
Why the Numbers Line Up
Dunkin’ and Starbucks both see their search numbers rise wherever they run more stores, and Pennsylvania shows exactly why that happens.
A search for “Dunkin’ hours” or “Dunkin’ near me” counts as coffee-chain interest in Innerbody’s index the same as a search built on genuine brand loyalty does.
A state with more Dunkin’ storefronts naturally produces more of those location-and-menu searches, on top of whatever preference is driving them.
The Store-Count Evidence
Dunkin’ backs up its search-interest lead with storefronts on the ground across the state.
A 2025 location count from ScrapeHero puts Dunkin’ at 661 Pennsylvania locations spread across 326 cities and towns.
Starbucks counted 469 locations in the same report, spread across 199 cities.
That’s roughly 40% more Dunkin’ storefronts, in more than half again as many towns.
Store by store, Dunkin’ wins.
Dunkin’s reach runs from Philadelphia rowhouse blocks to small towns along the Turnpike that never got a Starbucks at all.
A search-interest index can measure curiosity.
A store count measures who built the coffee shop.
Different Coasts, Different Starts
Dunkin’ has a head start in Pennsylvania that goes back decades before either chain sold its first cup in the state.
Bill Rosenberg opened the first Dunkin’ Donuts in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1950.
Twenty-one years before Starbucks.
The chain grew outward from New England into the rest of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic for decades before it faced serious national competition.
It grew from about 100 shops in 1963 to roughly 1,000 nationwide by 1979, according to Dunkin’s company history.
The state sat right in that growth path, picking up new stores year after year while Starbucks was still finding its footing on the other side of the country.
Starbucks tells a different origin story.
Three college friends opened the first Starbucks in Seattle’s Pike Place Market in 1971, two decades after Dunkin’ had already started spreading through New England.
Starbucks expanded outward from the Pacific Northwest instead, reaching much of the country later than Dunkin’ reached New England.
By the time Starbucks reached the state in force, Dunkin’ had already spent decades turning up on the next block.
Loyalty Programs and Daily Commutes
Dunkin’ runs its loyalty program across every one of those 661 Pennsylvania stores, and it’s built around the kind of quick, daily coffee run the chain is known for.
Dunkin’ Rewards rolled out nationwide in October 2022, replacing the older Dunkin’ Donuts Perks program and converting existing members automatically.
Starbucks got there first, though.
Its loyalty program dates back to April 2008, when Starbucks launched the Starbucks Card rewards program, more than a decade before Dunkin’s current version existed.
That program later grew into today’s Starbucks Rewards.
A longer-running rewards app doesn’t fill a coffee counter alone.
People still need a Dunkin’ to walk into, and the state hands them far more chances to do exactly that.
Psst! See exactly how Dunkin’ and Starbucks stack up across Pennsylvania. Tap any column to sort, or search for your hometown.
Starbucks’ National Lead
Starbucks doesn’t lose the bigger picture just because Pennsylvania tilts Dunkin’s way.
Nationwide, Starbucks ran 16,854 US stores as of December 15, 2025, according to ScrapeHero.
The same tracker counted 9,990 Dunkin’ locations as of January 19, 2026, its most recent update.
That’s close to 70% more Starbucks storefronts nationwide.
Not quite double.
Starbucks earns that scale by winning 21 states plus Washington, D.C. outright in Innerbody’s search-interest results, more than double Dunkin’s ten-state bloc.
Florida, Texas, and the Carolinas are three of those 21 states, proof this isn’t a Pacific Northwest story anymore.
Starbucks built that scale one big population center at a time, long before Dunkin’ expanded much past New England.
Even that scale isn’t fixed.
Starbucks announced in September 2025 that it would close roughly 400 underperforming North American stores and cut about 900 corporate jobs.
The cuts are part of a $1 billion restructuring charge under chief executive Brian Niccol’s “Back to Starbucks” turnaround plan.
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