There are four broad categories of fueling locations:

• Convenience stores are the dominant fueling outlet, selling an estimated 80% of the fuel purchased in the country. 
• Kiosk fueling sites that have a very small assortment of items: 14,826 fueling kiosks sell fuel.
• Hypermarkets/big-box retailers: 6,581 of these outlets are at retailers such as Walmart, Costco, Sam’ Club and Kroger.
• Service Stations: Until the early 1970s, this was the dominant fuel retailer. However, service station store count has dramatically decreased as newer formats entered the fueling business. It is not an exact figure, but an estimated 8,000 locations sell fuel, including small-volume locations like marinas.

Small Businesses Fuel America

For decades, convenience stores have sold the most gas in the United States; however, that was not always the case. In 1971, just 7% of convenience stores sold fuel. The move toward self-fueling to save a few cents, spurred by the price shocks of the 1970s, led to more consumers embracing convenience stores for lower prices on gas and one-stop shopping for additional in-store items. By the mid-1980s, convenience stores sold most of the gas in the country.

Today, there are 116,641 convenience stores selling fuel in the United States. Overall, 55% of these locations are single-store operators. Many of these operations may not have the resources to brand their stores separately from the brand of fuel they sell and promote on the canopy, often leading to misperceptions that their business is owned and operated by a major oil company. (Source: NACS/NielsenIQ 2022 Convenience Industry Store Count)
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The remaining 50% of convenience stores selling fuel have established their own fuel brand and purchase fuels on the open market or via unbranded contracts with a refiner/distributor.

The Decline in Fueling Sites

There are fewer fueling locations in the United States than 10 years, and significantly fewer than 30 years ago—or even 60 years ago. Some estimates suggest there were 300,000 fueling outlets in the 1920s—twice the number of outlets that there are today—that sold small volumes.

The last comprehensive census of fueling sites was conducted in 2012 by National Petroleum News (NPN), a publication founded in 1909 to track and analyze the petroleum industry. The last published station count in 2012 identified 156,065 locations, a sharp drop from the 1991 count of 210,120 fueling locations.

Prior to 1991, NPN published a store count based on U.S. Census data that included gas stations that derived more than 50% of their earnings from petroleum products and services (traditional gas stations) and did not include convenience stores, garages, repair shops, dealerships and independent operators. This count was dramatically lower than previous counts, and it’s possible that 100,00 or more fueling locations were omitted from this census. NPN showed a decline in fueling locations from 114,748 in 1987 to 111,657 in 1990.

From the mid to late 1980s, the fueling count also dropped, but was based on a different accounting. During this period, the U.S. Census count was limited to stores with payrolls, eliminating small independent stations without payrolls (roughly 15% of the industry). This count also only included gas stations that derived more than 50% of their earnings from petroleum products and services and did not include convenience stores, garages, repair shops, dealerships and independent operators. With this limited data set, the defined number of fueling locations dropped from 116,154 in 1984 to 93,864 in 1987. It’s possible that 120,000 or more fueling locations were omitted from this count annually.

The steepest drop in fueling location count was from 1970 to 1985 and used U.S. Census data. During this period, very few outlets besides service stations sold fuel, so the count is a more accurate representation of the total fueling universe but underreports the overall fueling universe. During that 15-year period, the number of fueling locations dropped by almost 100,000, from 222,000 in 1970 to 130,000 in 1985. Prior to 1970, annual station counts are spottier but over 200,000: 211,473 in 1963 and 206,755 in 1958.

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About NACS
National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) advances the role of convenience stores as positive economic, social and philanthropic contributors to the communities they serve. The U.S. convenience store industry, with more than 148,000 stores nationwide selling fuel, food and merchandise, serves 165 million customers daily—half of the U.S. population—and has sales that are 11% of total U.S. retail and foodservice sales. NACS has 1,900 retailer and 1,800 supplier members from more than 50 countries. For more information, please visit www.Convenience.org.

NACS Contact:
Jeff Lenard
V.P., Strategic Industry Initiatives
703-518-4272