The U.S. convenience store industry has added more retail locations to the c-store universe for the second consecutive year, reported the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS).
There are 152,396 convenience stores operating in the United States. A 1.5% increase over last year’s store count of 150,174, according to the 2024 NACS/NIQ Convenience Industry Store Count.
These stores are estimated to sell 80% of the fuels consumers purchase in the United States. The recently released store census shows 120,061 convenience stores selling fuels, up 1.2% from 118,678 stores in 2023.
In the last decade, six of four years experienced growth in the convenience retail channel:
2024 — 152,396 (+1.5%) 2019 — 153,237 (-1.1%) 2023 — 150,174 (+1.5%) 2018 — 154,958 (+0.3%) 2022 — 148,026 (-1.5%) 2017 — 154,535 (+0.2%) 2021 — 150,274 (-1.6%) 2016 — 154,195 (+0.9%) 2020 — 152,720 (-0.3%) 2015 — 152,794 (+0.9%)
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The Number of Convenience Store Operators
The bulk of C-stores comes from “A-sized” (1-10 stores) operators at 96,156 locations (63.1% of total C-stores). Of these, 91,799 are single-store operators, up slightly from 90,423 stores in 2023. Second are “E-sized” operators with more than 500 stores.
| Store Size | Store Count | Allocation |
| A (1-10 stores) | 96,156 | 63.1% of stores |
| B (11-50 stores) | 9,157 | 6.0% |
| C (51-200 stores) | 9,033 | 5.9% |
| D (201-500 stores) | 5,186 | 3.4% |
| E (501+ stores) | 32,864 | 21.6% |
Nearly every state increased its store count. Texas continues to have the most convenience stores (16,304 stores), or more than 1 in 10 stores in the United States.
After losing 53 stores in 2023, California added 177 to its store count. Only seven states saw a reduction in their store count: Alaska, Iowa, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Oklahoma, and Vermont.
While the C-store industry grew its retail presence in local communities throughout the United States, other brick-and-mortar channels had a different experience:
Channel 2024 2023 % Change Convenience 152,396 150,174 1.5% C-stores selling fuels 120,061 118,678 1.2% Fuels kiosks 13,065 13,346 -2.2% Grocery 45,047 45,380 -0.7% Drug 39,752 40,008 -0.6% Dollar 38,435 37,067 3.7%
With the U.S. population at an estimated 336 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, there is one convenience store per every 2,204 people.
The 2024 NACS/NIQ Convenience Industry Store Count is based on operating stores as of December 31, 2023.