This Major US City Is Famous For Coffee Yet Doesn't Have A Single Dunkin' Location

If you live near a Dunkin', it's hard to imagine it being a local thing. Whether you go there for its hot coffee, its cold lattes, or even donuts (its onetime namesake product), it feels less like a chain and more like a fact of life. But believe it or not, there are some parts of America that don't have a Dunkin' on every corner. As a matter of fact, there are cities and states without a single Dunkin' location; most prominently, coffee-loving Seattle and the rest of Washington.

Think about it for a moment and it makes sense. Seattle is, of course, Starbucks country: The massively popular chain started life as a humble coffee shop in Rain City all the way back in 1971. (They didn't serve lattes back then, but it was still a pretty good place for coffee.) And even if a hypothetical Seattle native wasn't partial to Starbucks, they would still be spoiled for choice as the city has a thriving coffee scene entirely separate from the green mermaid. We suppose there's nothing stopping Dunkin' from opening a store in Seattle, but it would have a decidedly uphill climb — it would be like if Poison left Los Angeles' hair metal scene in the early 1990s to pal around in the Seattle grunge scene with Nirvana and Pearl Jam.

Seattle's lack of Dunkin' is only one grain of sand in a vast chain-donut desert. According to a map posted by the chain itself on Instagram, virtually the entire Northwestern United States is a no-Dunkin' zone; no Dunkin' in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, or Montana. (Wyoming is the sole Dunkin' oasis in the Northwest, with three locations.) Millions of people, from Missoula to Olympia to Portland, suffer through a dreary, Munchkin-less existence. So, why does Dunkin' feel as ubiquitous as McDonald's in some parts of the country?

Simply put, the chain isn't evenly distributed across the country. While it's not quite as regional as, say, In-N-Out (where only eight states had locations in 2024), the majority of Dunkin's are concentrated in the East, especially the Northeast. New York has the most Dunkin's with 1,454, but Massachusetts isn't far behind with 1,034 locations despite being a much smaller state. (Florida is in third place, with 936 locations.) This concentration makes sense, as the chain was founded in Quincy, Massachusetts, but it's still surprising to see it laid bare. There are still Dunkin's throughout the country, including 720 in Illinois and 157 in California (presumably to keep up with Ben Affleck's decades-long love affair with Dunkin'), but don't expect to find any in Seattle.