How Many Gas Stations Are in the US? #
The United States had 109,174 gas stations with paid employees (Census CBP, 2023). Adding the 6,817 gas stations run with no paid employees (Census Nonemployer Statistics, 2023) gives 115,991.
The employer count is falling: it has been lower in every year since 2017. Gas stations with paid employees employ about 1.0 million people.
Gas Stations With and Without a Convenience Store #
Most US gas stations are also convenience stores. Of the 109,174 with paid employees, 96,002 sell food and convenience items alongside fuel: 87.9% of the total, by our calculation from Census CBP data.
The remaining 13,172 are other gasoline stations: stations without a convenience store, including those built around repair service, truck stops and marine fuel stations.
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What the Count Includes #
Any location that sells motor fuel together with convenience items counts as a gas station with a convenience store, whether it looks like a gas station or a convenience store. Convenience stores without fuel pumps are a separate industry (NAICS 445120) and are not included.
The industry was renumbered in the 2022 edition of the classification: the 2017 code 4471 is 4571 in the new edition. County Business Patterns still reports on the 2017 codes, while Nonemployer Statistics uses the 2022 codes.
How We Counted #
Gas stations with paid employees come from County Business Patterns, which counts each location that had payroll during the year, across the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Gas stations with no paid employees come from Nonemployer Statistics, which Census builds from tax records.
The share with a convenience store is our calculation: the convenience-store count divided by all gas stations with paid employees. Nonemployer Statistics does not split owner-run stations by type.
What the Count Does Not Show #
A national total does not show where stations are. The state-by-state breakdown and the industry's trend over time are in our Gas Stations with Convenience Stores report, built from the same federal data.
For what a station earns on each gallon, see our analysis of gas station fuel margin per gallon.