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2026-07-17 23:48:01

Ranked: The World’s Most Valuable Restaurant Chains

See visuals like this from many other data creators on our Voronoi app. Download it for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

The global restaurant industry is dominated by a few multinational chains, especially American ones. One company sits well ahead of its competition.

This graphic ranks the top 20 public restaurant companies by market capitalization as of July 2026, using data from CompaniesMarketCap. Only publicly traded companies are included.

The Golden Arches and a Golden Valuation

At $195.1 billion, McDonald’s is valued at more than four times Chipotle, the second-largest company in the ranking. Its global franchise network, brand recognition, and consistent profitability have helped it build an unmatched valuation in the restaurant industry.

The table below ranks the most valuable restaurant companies by market capitalization as of July 2026.

Rank	Restaurant Name	Market Cap (billions $)
1	McDonald's	195.1
2	Chipotle Mexican Grill	45.2
3	Yum! Brands	45.1
4	Restaurant Brands International	34.3
5	Darden Restaurants	23.4
6	Yum China	14.8
7	Texas Roadhouse	12.5
8	Domino's Pizza	10
9	Zensho Holdings	8.5
10	CAVA Group	8.4
11	Brinker International	7.9
12	Hai Di Lao Hot Pot	7.6
13	Food & Life Companies	6.8
14	McDonald's Japan	6.3
15	Americana Restaurants International	4.7
16	Wingstop Restaurants	4.2
17	The Cheesecake Factory	4.1
18	Skylark Holdings	4.1
19	Jollibee	2.7
20	Shake Shack	2.5

McDonald’s was founded in 1940 by two brothers in San Bernardino, California, and expanded overseas within a few decades. The company now has more than 40,000 locations worldwide, with particularly large footprints in the U.S., China, and Japan.

The company’s Japanese subsidiary alone has a market capitalization of $6.3 billion. Den Fujita founded the local subsidiary and opened Japan’s first McDonald’s restaurant in 1971.

U.S. Restaurant Hegemony

The next two companies in the ranking, Chipotle ($45.2 billion) and Yum! Brands ($45.1 billion), are also based in the United States. Overall, American companies account for 11 of the top 20, including fast-growing CAVA ($8.4 billion).

Chipotle was founded as an early fast-casual restaurant in Denver, Colorado, in 1993. McDonald’s owned a 90% majority stake in the company before divesting in 2006.

Meanwhile, Yum! Brands is a Louisville-based fast-food corporation that owns major chains including Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). Its Chinese subsidiary was spun off in 2016 and has a market capitalization of $14.8 billion a decade later.

The Most Valuable Non-American Restaurant Companies

Several international restaurant groups have also built multibillion-dollar valuations.

Restaurant Brands International (RBI) is a Canadian company valued at $34.3 billion that operates major restaurant chains including Burger King, Popeyes, and Tim Hortons. Americana Restaurants International, a UAE-based company valued at $4.7 billion, has similarly diverse fast-food holdings and is 50% owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

Other highly valued restaurant companies are based in East Asia, including China’s Haidilao ($7.6 billion) and Japan’s Zensho Holdings ($8.5 billion).

Learn More on the Voronoi App

Curious how one Mediterranean-inspired entry on this list is growing so rapidly? Check out Cava is valued at $35M per restaurant on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

2026-07-17 21:50:53

Mapped: America’s Best States to Move to in 2026

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From rising housing costs to job prospects, Americans have plenty to consider when deciding where to move.

Using data from ConsumerAffairs, this map ranks every U.S. state based on a weighted combination of affordability, safety, education and healthcare, economic strength, and quality of life.

Happy Living in the Granite State

With a nationwide-high score of 68.51, New Hampshire ranks as the best state to move to in 2026, placing highly in four of the five categories.

The small Northeastern state ranks second nationwide for both safety and quality of life, third for education and healthcare, and seventh for economic strength.

The table below ranks all 50 states by their overall composite scores, making it easy to see how your state compares nationally.

Affordability is the only category in which New Hampshire places outside the top half of the country. There it ranks 26th nationwide, making it less affordable than many of its closest competitors.

Despite its cost-of-living challenges, New Hampshire’s strong safety and quality-of-life scores have helped it remain one of the fastest-growing states in the Northeast.

New England’s High Scores

Beyond New Hampshire, the wider New England region also performs strongly. Three other states place in the nation’s top quintile by overall score: Maine (61.86), Massachusetts (59.01), and Vermont (58.15).

New England performs particularly well in categories that matter to families. The region includes two of the country’s three safest states and two of its three highest-ranked states for quality of life.

Its strongest results come in education and healthcare, with four of the country’s five highest-ranked states located in New England.

The Mixed Results of the Big Four

California, Florida, New York, and Texas are home to four of the country’s largest state economies, but their results as destinations for movers vary widely.

New York (45.88), for example, ranks seventh in both quality of life and education and healthcare, but places lower in affordability and economic strength. Meanwhile, Florida (54.06) and Texas (47.38) score well for economic strength but rank lower in categories tied to public services.

California (38.06) ranks last in affordability and second-to-last in safety, ahead of only New Mexico (28.99). However, the Golden State still places among the country’s top 15 for quality of life.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

Wondering how states compare on quality of life? Check out Massachusetts Ranked #1 Best State to Live on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

2026-07-17 19:41:53

The World’s Most and Least Livable Cities in 2026

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The Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Global Liveability Index measures quality of life across five categories: stability, healthcare, education, infrastructure, and culture.

This visualization compares the highest- and lowest-ranked cities in the 2026 edition of the index, revealing which urban centers provide the strongest living conditions—and which continue to be held back by conflict, political instability, or underdeveloped public services.

Copenhagen Takes the Top Spot

Copenhagen claimed the top spot with an overall score of 98 out of 100, becoming the first city outside Vienna to lead the EIU’s rankings in several years.

Rank	Most Livable Cities	Country	Overall Score (0-100)
1	Copenhagen	Denmark	98
2	Vienna	Austria	97
3	Melbourne	Australia	97
4	Sydney	Australia	97
5	Zurich	Switzerland	96
6	Geneva	Switzerland	96
7	Osaka	Japan	96
8	Adelaide	Australia	96
9	Vancouver	Canada	96
10	Tokyo	Japan	96

The Danish capital scored highly for its public services, safe neighborhoods, efficient transportation, healthcare, and environmental standards.

Vienna placed second, followed by Australia’s two largest cities, Melbourne and Sydney.

Europe and Australia Lead the Rankings

Cities in Europe and Australia continue to set the global benchmark for urban quality of life, supported by extensive public services, transportation networks, healthcare systems, and urban infrastructure.

Switzerland placed Zurich and Geneva in the top six, while Australia was represented by Melbourne, Sydney, and Adelaide.

Japan also performed strongly, with Osaka and Tokyo both earning scores of 96.

Vancouver was the only North American city to make the top 10, reflecting Canada’s continued reputation for urban livability.

Conflict and Instability Weigh on the Lowest-Ranked Cities

At the bottom of the index, conflict, political instability, economic pressures, and weak infrastructure can make it difficult to provide reliable public services.

Damascus received the lowest score at 32, followed by Tripoli and Dhaka.

Rank	Least Liveable Cities	Country	Overall Score
164	Tehran	Iran	45
165	Harare	Zimbabwe	45
166	Kyiv	Ukraine	45
167	Port Moresby	Papua New Guinea	44
168	Lagos	Nigeria	44
169	Algiers	Algeria	43
170	Karachi	Pakistan	43
171	Dhaka	Bangladesh	42
172	Tripoli	Libya	41
173	Damascus	Syria	32

Cities including Kyiv, Tehran, Karachi, and Lagos also appeared near the bottom of the index. Many face security concerns or strained public services that reduce day-to-day quality of life.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out How Happy Are the World’s Population Giants? on Voronoi.

2026-07-17 01:11:16

Mapped: The U.S. States Registering the Most New Cars

See visuals like this from many other data creators on our Voronoi app. Download it for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

The states registering the most new vehicles are not always the country’s largest auto markets.

Fleet activity, tax policies, and state registration rules can significantly influence where newly sold vehicles are titled, producing some surprising results.

This map shows new vehicle registrations per 1,000 residents across all 50 U.S. states in 2025. The data comes from S&P Global Mobility via F&I Tools, with population figures from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Why Oklahoma Tops the Ranking

Oklahoma records 148.1 new vehicle registrations per 1,000 residents, nearly double the rate of second-place Vermont and more than four times California’s rate.

The gap shows how registration policies can outweigh underlying consumer demand.

Oklahoma’s ranking is largely explained by its vehicle registration system, which charges a flat, age-based fee instead of a value-based property tax.

This makes the state attractive to commercial fleets looking to title vehicles, substantially increasing the number of new vehicles registered there each year.

Tax Policies Shape the Leaderboard

Oklahoma is not the only outlier. Several other highly ranked states have policies that make them attractive places to register vehicles, including lower taxes, fewer fees, or specialized registration rules.

New Hampshire, which ranks third, has no statewide sales tax, reducing the upfront cost of purchasing a vehicle.

Montana has become well known for Limited Liability Company (LLC) structures that allow owners of luxury vehicles and RVs to register them without paying sales tax.

Florida, meanwhile, combines a lack of mandatory vehicle safety inspections with a large rental car industry and a sizable retiree population, helping it rank fourth nationally.

New Registrations Are Different From Vehicles Per Capita

These rankings capture one year of new registrations rather than the total number of vehicles on the road.

States with favorable registration policies can therefore rank much higher than their underlying consumer demand might suggest. For a broader view of vehicle ownership, see our previous graphic on America’s vehicles per capita.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

If you enjoyed today’s post, explore how electric vehicles accounted for one in four cars sold worldwide in 2025 on Voronoi.

2026-07-16 22:32:19

America’s Largest Private Companies by Revenue

Public companies often dominate headlines, but some of America’s biggest businesses remain privately held and largely out of the public eye.

This visualization ranks the 15 largest U.S. private companies by annual revenue using Forbes data as of December 2025.

While AI startups like OpenAI and Anthropic command enormous valuations, their revenues remain a fraction of those generated by long-established food, retail, and industrial companies.

Cargill: The Grain Giant

No private company generates more revenue than Cargill, at $154 billion annually.

That figure trails Amazon’s $717 billion in annual revenue, but Cargill’s sales still exceed those of many household-name public companies. The company has remained privately owned since its founding in 1865.

The following table ranks the largest U.S. private companies by annual revenue as of December 2025.

Headquartered in Minnesota, Cargill is a major global producer of agricultural commodities such as grain, meat, and palm oil. It employs more than 150,000 people across 70 countries.

Cargill is one of the world’s largest food companies and is responsible for roughly one-quarter of all U.S. grain exports. It also operates a division dedicated to managing risk across international commodity markets.

The company is one of the Big Four meatpackers and produces more than one-fifth of all U.S. meat. As of 2026, the Cargill-MacMillan family continues to own more than 85% of the firm.

Top Revenues in the Food and Beverage Industry

Beyond Cargill, many of America’s largest private companies operate in food-related industries. Confectionery company Mars generates $55 billion in annual revenue and is best known for brands such as Snickers, M&M’s, and Skittles. It is also a major pet food manufacturer.

Other leading private food companies include Publix Super Markets ($59.7 billion), H-E-B Grocery Company ($49.6 billion), Reyes Holdings ($44 billion), Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits ($25 billion), Gordon Food Service ($23 billion), and Meijer ($22 billion).

Food companies dominate the ranking because they operate in essential, high-volume markets with steady demand. Commodity producers, grocery chains, and food distributors process enormous sales volumes, allowing their revenues to rival or exceed those of many large public corporations.

The Top Non-Food Private Companies

Koch, Inc. generates $125 billion in annual revenue, making it the largest private company outside the food and beverage sector. The Wichita-based conglomerate operates through dozens of subsidiaries spanning energy, paper, chemicals, fertilizer, finance, and other industries.

Enterprise Mobility generates $38 billion in annual revenue and controls roughly 40% of the car-rental market, making it the industry leader. It is followed by financial services company Fidelity Investments, which generates $32.7 billion and is one of the world’s largest asset managers.

Several lesser-known companies also rank highly. Bechtel, for example, generates $23 billion in annual revenue and is the second-largest construction company in the United States.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

To see how private companies are using mergers and acquisitions to grow, read Record-breaking private company M&A on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

2026-07-16 20:03:03

Mapped: Where People Think Quality of Life Is Best

See visuals like this from many other data creators on our Voronoi app. Download it for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you choose?

The 2026 Best Countries Index from The Wharton School reveals where people around the world believe quality of life is highest. Based on responses from more than 15,000 adults across 33 countries, the rankings measure international perceptions of 85 nations.

Rather than relying solely on economic or demographic indicators, the index reflects how countries are viewed across factors including affordability, job opportunities, family friendliness, political stability, and overall well-being.

What the Top-Ranked Countries Have in Common

Stable institutions, high levels of trust, and strong public services have helped countries such as Sweden, Denmark, and Switzerland build reputations as some of the world’s most desirable places to live.

In the table below, countries are scored relative to Sweden, which ranks first with a score of 100.

Rank	Country	2026 Quality of Life Score
1	Sweden	100.0
2	Denmark	98.2
3	Canada	95.0
4	Switzerland	94.8
5	Finland	92.4
6	Norway	92.4
7	Netherlands	90.8
8	Australia	87.5
9	Germany	82.9
10	Belgium	78.6
11	Austria	76.7
12	New Zealand	74.0
13	UK	73.7
14	Japan	73.4
15	Luxembourg	69.9
16	Ireland	63.5
17	Singapore	61.6
18	Poland	59.6
19	Spain	56.7
20	France	56.2
21	Portugal	56.1
22	Iceland	55.8
23	UAE	52.2
24	South Korea	51.7
25	Italy	49.9
26	China	49.8
27	U.S.	48.6
28	Greece	36.2
29	Saudi Arabia	35.6
30	Czechia	32.3
31	Thailand	31.5
32	Malaysia	30.8
33	Hungary	28.3
34	Türkiye	26.4
35	Croatia	26.2
36	Indonesia	24.7
37	Vietnam	24.1
38	Kuwait	23.4
39	Mexico	22.8
40	Slovenia	22.4
41	Romania	21.8
42	Latvia	21.6
43	Malta	21.2
44	Philippines	21.0
45	Bulgaria	20.8
46	India	20.5
47	Slovakia	19.9
48	Morocco	19.7
49	Argentina	18.4
50	Bahrain	18.3
51	Egypt	18.3
52	Cyprus	18.2
53	Brazil	17.9
54	Russia	17.3
55	Estonia	17.1
56	Uruguay	15.7
57	Chile	15.6
58	Lithuania	14.9
59	Oman	14.7
60	Costa Rica	13.5
61	Tunisia	12.7
62	Peru	12.1
63	Israel	11.9
64	Cambodia	11.8
65	Bangladesh	11.3
66	Panama	10.8
67	Jordan	10.6
68	Dominican Republic	9.9
69	Colombia	9.7
70	Ecuador	9.3
71	Sri Lanka	9.2
72	Guatemala	9.1
73	South Africa	8.6
74	Serbia	8.6
75	Kenya	8.5
76	Belarus	8.2
77	Algeria	8.0
78	Ghana	8.0
79	Uzbekistan	7.3
80	Azerbaijan	7.0
81	Cameroon	6.5
82	Kazakhstan	4.4
83	Lebanon	4.1
84	Iran	1.8
85	Ukraine	0.0

Nordic countries have also topped the World Happiness Report for years, suggesting that their strong global reputations are supported by consistently high levels of life satisfaction.

The Exceptions to Europe’s Dominance

Canada ranks third overall, making it the highest-ranked country in the Americas. Australia is the only other country outside Europe to reach the global top 10, breaking up an otherwise heavily European leaderboard.

The U.S. ranks behind every other G7 economy after falling 10 places since 2018. The result shows how international perceptions can differ from economic size or geopolitical influence.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

To learn more about this topic, check out this graphic on the world’s most prosperous countries in 2026.