McDonald’s has built one of the largest restaurant networks in the world, with tens of thousands of locations spread across more than 100 countries. Yet a relatively small number of markets account for a substantial share of that footprint.

The United States has more McDonald’s restaurants than any other country, followed by China and Japan. As of September 30, 2026, McDonald’s reported 13,821 restaurants in the United States, compared with 8,395 in China and 3,043 in Japan.

Globally, McDonald’s had 46,554 systemwide restaurants across 114 countries at the end of the third quarter of 2026.

The following ranking uses McDonald’s systemwide restaurant counts as of September 30, 2026. The year-over-year column shows the change from September 30, 2025 to September 30, 2026.

McDonald’s reports these figures as systemwide restaurants, meaning the totals include franchised, licensed, affiliated, and company-owned locations rather than only restaurants directly operated by McDonald’s Corporation.

The ranking is based on the company’s latest quarterly restaurant disclosure and is consistent with McDonald’s detailed year-end 2025 country-by-country report, which identified the same markets among its largest restaurant networks.

The United States remains comfortably ahead of every other market with 13,821 restaurants.

That represents roughly 30% of McDonald’s entire global restaurant network. The U.S. count increased by 188 restaurants from 13,633 at September 30, 2025.

McDonald’s began in the United States, and the country remains central to the company’s business even as international expansion has increasingly driven restaurant growth.

The company also operates an overwhelmingly franchised model in its home market. Of the 13,821 U.S. restaurants reported in September 2026, 13,244 were conventional franchised restaurants and 577 were company-owned and operated.

China ranks second with 8,395 McDonald’s restaurants, but its rate of expansion stands out much more than its ranking alone suggests.

The restaurant count increased by 893 locations in one year, from 7,502 in September 2025. That was nearly five times the net increase reported for the United States over the same period.

McDonald’s detailed year-end data also show the scale of the recent expansion. Mainland China had 6,820 restaurants at the end of 2024 and 7,740 at the end of 2025.

Despite that growth, the U.S. still had 5,426 more restaurants than China as of September 2026.

The numbers show that China is narrowing the gap, but they do not establish when or whether it will eventually overtake the United States. Future restaurant development will depend on openings, closures, franchise investment, and McDonald’s long-term expansion decisions.

Japan remains McDonald’s third-largest market with 3,043 restaurants.

Its network is much smaller than those of the United States and China, but significantly larger than the next group of countries in the ranking. France, the fourth-largest market, had 1,652 restaurants at the same date.

Japan added 42 restaurants year over year, increasing from 3,001 in September 2025.

The country has maintained a comparatively stable network. McDonald’s year-end figures show 2,989 restaurants in Japan in 2024 and 3,025 in 2025.

France had 1,652 McDonald’s restaurants at September 30, 2026, making it the company's largest individually reported European market.

The United Kingdom followed closely with 1,519 restaurants, while Germany had 1,388. Italy ranked further down the global list with 834 restaurants.

All four markets expanded over the preceding year. France and Canada each added 35 restaurants, the United Kingdom added 27, Germany added 19, and Italy added 52.

McDonald’s classifies these markets within its International Operated Markets segment, where the company operates alongside conventional licensees.

Brazil had 1,272 McDonald’s restaurants in September 2026, making it the largest McDonald’s market in Latin America by a wide margin.

Its restaurant count increased by 70 over the previous 12 months.

McDonald’s detailed year-end 2025 report counted 1,230 restaurants in Brazil. Mexico, by comparison, had 380, while Argentina had 231.

Brazil is classified as an International Developmental Licensed Market, meaning McDonald’s grants a developmental licensee the right to develop and operate restaurants under the brand within the market.

India had 810 restaurants by September 2026, up by 95 from a year earlier.

Among the 12 countries in the table, only China added more restaurants in absolute terms over that period.

The increase also continues a longer pattern visible in McDonald’s annual disclosures. India had 665 restaurants at the end of 2024 and 757 at the end of 2025.

Although India remains far behind the largest McDonald’s markets in total restaurant count, its recent additions illustrate how the company’s growth is increasingly spread across international markets.

McDonald’s does not directly own most restaurants displaying its name.

Its systemwide restaurant count includes several types of operations, including conventional franchises, developmental licensed restaurants, foreign affiliated restaurants, and company-owned locations.

At September 30, 2026, McDonald’s reported that approximately 95% of its restaurants worldwide were franchised.

This distinction matters because a ranking based only on restaurants directly owned by McDonald’s Corporation would look very different. Systemwide counts provide a better measure of the overall physical presence of the McDonald’s brand.

McDonald’s country figures should also be read according to the company's own reporting methodology.

In its detailed year-end 2025 restaurant report, McDonald’s noted that several reported markets include nearby territories or countries. The United States figure, for example, includes Cuba, Guam, and Saipan. France includes Monaco, while Spain includes Andorra and Gibraltar.

McDonald’s reported 97 individual markets in that document, with another 17 countries consolidated into those reported markets, bringing the total to 114 countries.

The figures are therefore best understood as McDonald’s official market-level restaurant counts rather than a dataset constructed strictly around political borders.

The company's overall restaurant footprint is still growing.

McDonald’s had 46,554 systemwide restaurants at September 30, 2026, up from 44,599 a year earlier. That represents a net increase of 1,955 locations over the 12-month period.

For the full 2026 year, McDonald’s said it expected to open approximately 2,500 restaurants globally, with about 2,100 net restaurant additions after closures. These figures are forecasts rather than completed full-year results.

The company is targeting 50,000 restaurants worldwide by the end of 2028.

For now, however, the geographic hierarchy remains clear. The United States has the largest McDonald’s restaurant network in the world with 13,821 restaurants, followed by China with 8,395 and Japan with 3,043. China is expanding the fastest among those three, but the United States continues to hold a substantial lead.