Spice Up Your Knowledge—15 Fun Facts About Mexican Dining in America
Whether you’re fluent in Spanish or have just picked up “Hola” and “Gracias,” one thing is statistically certain: most Americans live near a Mexican restaurant.
Pew Research Center has uncovered some fun facts about US-based Mexican restaurants that’ll turn heads when you share them at your next Taco Tuesday get-together.
Gathering Restaurant Data
Pew Research Center purchased restaurant data from SafeGraph and checked them on Yelp to analyze the quantity and layout of Mexican restaurants in the US. This is what the results revealed.
1: Tacos Everywhere
A massive 99% of the American population has at least one Mexican restaurant in their county. How did Pew Research Center arrive at this number, you ask? Fifteen percent of counties don’t have Mexican restaurants, totaling four million Americans. That’s a mere 1% of the US population.
2: Doesn’t Have To Be Mexican
About 11% of all restaurants in the US serve Mexican food, even if it isn’t their specialty. Take that, Taco Bell.
3: Bigger Is Better
California and Texas counties have the greatest number of Mexican restaurants. It makes sense, given their proximity to America’s southern neighbor.
4: There’s More
Not only are Mexican restaurants most prevalent in Californian and Texan counties, but these states make up about 40% of all Mexican restaurants in the US. Time for a Mexican foodie road trip?
5: Winning County
Los Angeles County in California has the most Mexican restaurants in the state (30%). The state of California makes up 22% of the nation’s restaurants selling Mexican food.
6: Texas With Some Texas
Of the top ten US counties with the greatest percentage of Mexican restaurants relative to all other restaurants within their borders, a whopping eight are in Texas. Ochiltree County, located in the Texas Panhandle, has the greatest percentage, at 42%. The non-Texas counties were Morrow County, Oregon (37%), and Rio Arriba County, New Mexico (34%).
7: The Outlier
Although New Mexico touches the Mexican border, it contains relatively few restaurants serving Mexican food. Arizona also doesn’t have as large of a Mexican restaurant concentration, with the exception of Maricopa County (Phoenix sits within it), which is in the top five for Mexican restaurant numbers in the US.
8: Looking North
Cook County, Illinois, which is home to Chicago, has a seemingly out-of-place but impressive 1,584 restaurants serving Mexican food. New York City is another northern state with a significant number of Mexican restaurants.
9: Burritos and Sunshine
Although Florida doesn’t have any counties in the top five for most restaurants serving Mexican food, it makes the top five states that have the most Mexican restaurants as a whole. California, Texas, New York, and Illinois also made the cut.
10: Super Taco Size Me
Mexican food restaurant owners appear to have adapted to Americans’ demand for quick meals. Approximately 22% of Mexican restaurants in the US fall under the “fast food” category.
11: A Side of Specialties
Pew Research Center discovered that about 12% of Mexican restaurants in the US specialize in tacos. Approximately 8% of restaurants selling Mexican food are from food trucks or carts, and another 6% specialize in Tex-Mex food.
12: Big Savings
At a time when the word “inflation” has become a part of daily vocabulary, choosing to dine on Mexican food appears to help many Americans save money compared to ordering other cuisines. Sixty-one percent of Mexican restaurants in the US were rated with one dollar sign (the most economical) on Yelp’s four-point dollar cost scale.
13: Fine Mexican Dining
If fine Mexican dining sounds odd to you, it’s likely because less than 1% of restaurants serving Mexican food in the US have a rating of three or four dollar signs on Yelp’s cost scale. To put that into perspective, customers rated only 251 Mexican restaurants in the US as moderately costly or expensive.
14: The Kicker
Non-Mexican Latinos and Hispanics have far fewer choices in the US of dining on their cuisine of origin. A measly 2% of US restaurants offer Hispanic or Latino cuisine other than Mexican. Of those that do serve such food, Caribbean and Cuban cuisine are the most common.
15: Mexican Food All Around
Pew Research Center discovered that in many cases, a significant number of restaurants serving Hispanic or Latino dishes also have Mexican food on their menu. The same can’t be said about Mexican restaurants, though; only 3% of Mexican restaurants serve non-Mexican Hispanic or Latino food.
Digging Into the Data
The majority of the Mexican American population lives in California and Texas. So, it’s unsurprising that these states have such high concentrations of restaurants serving Mexican food.
Important Note
Pew Research Center used “Mexican restaurants” and “restaurants that serve Mexican food” interchangeably throughout their study, and we followed suit in this article. However, not all of the restaurants in the study were strictly Mexican; as long as they served Mexican food somewhere on their menu, it counted as a Mexican restaurant.
All in the Numbers
According to United States Census Bureau data, there are over 37 million Hispanics of Mexican origin living in the US. So, many Americans have the chance to try authentic Mexican food straight from the source without applying for a passport.
Most Popular Mexican Food
According to a poll performed by YouGov, burritos and nachos are tied for the most popular Mexican dishes. Both received an 81% popularity ranking.
Runners Up
Quesadillas are the third-most beloved Mexican food, with a 79% popularity ranking. Salsa (78%) and fajitas (76%) ranked in fourth and fifth places, respectively.
Sweet Tooth
Although many Americans think of savory food when they imagine Mexican cuisine, there are many local desserts to satisfy those with a sweet tooth. Mexican fried ice cream, flan, churros, and tres leches cake are among the desserts you might find on a Mexican restaurant menu.
Regional Differences
Mexico has 31 states. So, it’s common to encounter different foods depending on where in Mexico you travel. My suggestion? Don’t miss Oaxaca, an oasis for Mexican dishes that don’t always make it on the average American-geared Mexican restaurant menu.
More Mole, Please
Mole is a yummy local sauce that is used in many Oaxacan dishes. It’s common for mole to have 20 ingredients or more, with chile, sesame seeds, anise, and even chocolate being among them, depending on the mole variety.
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