There's perhaps nothing more satisfying than a good burger.
With the utmost journalistic integrity, we conducted painstaking research to figure out the best burger in every state and Washington, DC, from mom-and-pop shops to celebrity-chef restaurants and everything in between. Based on accolades, reviews, awards, and our own stomachs, we came up with a comprehensive list so that you can devour a truly great burger anywhere in the US.
Additional research and writing by Alyson Penn.
ALABAMA: Vicki's Lunch Van, in Montgomery, is known for its burger, the king of lunch foods. Called the best burger in the state by Alabama.com, Vicki's burger has a perfect, crispy char and a juicy interior.
ALASKA: Tommy's Burger Stop serves sky-high beef patties topped with all sorts of goodies, from deep-fried jalapeno peppers to onion rings to everyone's favorite: bacon. The Stella Bleu Burger alone — a blue-cheese-oozing monster — is worth a trip to Anchorage.
ARIZONA: Rehab Burger Therapy can fix what ails you. With multiple accolades under its belt, this Scottsdale eatery is known for its outlandish spicy-burger combinations, like the ghost burger — with ghost pepper-jack cheese — and the no-explanation-needed jalapeno-popper burger.
ARKANSAS: Named the best burger since 2000 by one publication or another, Cotham's, in Little Rock and Scott, is famous for the hubcap cheeseburger, so named for its hubcap-size beef patties — anywhere from one to four on a soft bun.
CALIFORNIA: Slater's 50/50, with multiple locations in Southern California, gets its name from its signature patty, made from 50% ground beef and 50% ground bacon. Slater's also does 50/50 patties of beef and chorizo, beef and Italian sausage, and Sriracha-spiced beef and bacon.
COLORADO: Featured on the Denver episode of Travel Channel's "Man v. Food," Cherry Cricket Restaurant's half-pound Cricket Burger can be made any way you want. The joint even has a dartboard with a list of all the ingredient possibilities, from guacamole to fried shrimp, for guests who want their burger choice to be left to fate.
CONNECTICUT: Home of the original hamburger sandwich, Louis' Lunch in New Haven chose to put its burger between two slices of toasted bread instead of a bun. The simplicity of the burger, with tomato, onion, and cheese, is perfectly satisfying.
DELAWARE: Wilmington's Chelsea Tavern won the critic's choice award in this year's annual Delaware Burger Battle. The patty is made with certified Hereford beef and topped with beer-braised onions and aged white cheddar. Other burgers come loaded with bacon, fried egg, crispy scrapple, or goat cheese.
FLORIDA: Deerfield Beach — aka Charm City — is proudly repped by Charm City Burger Co. Get your burger made with beef, turkey, chicken, tuna, lamb, Italian sausage, or vegetables — and don't forget the "hook-ups," which range from bacon to sautéed mushrooms to seared foie gras.
GEORGIA: Bocado Burger, in Alpharetta, gets its meat from grazing, black Angus cattle, and it's hormone- and antibiotic-free. The kitchen sources locally where possible and piles it signature "stack burger" with ingredients that complement the quality of the meat.
HAWAII: Voted the best burger in West Hawaii three years in a row, Annie's Island Fresh Burgers in Kealakekua sears each burger to your preferred level of done-ness, and serves it with hand-cut fries, coleslaw, or house-made purple potato salad.
IDAHO: Though it opened barely a year ago, Grind Modern Burger has already been dubbed the best burger in The Valley by The Idaho Statesman. The homestead burger comes with homemade mayo, white cheddar, Spam, roasted tomato spread, white onions, and a fried egg. On the side: amazing fries. It is Idaho, after all.
ILLINOIS: Cooked medium, the burger at Au Cheval is made single or double, with high-quality beef and a toasty locally made bun. The Chicago diner also has 30 international draft beers on its menu. Au Cheval's burger has been considered the best of the best since the restaurant opened in 2012.
INDIANA: Workingman's Friend in Indianapolis is renowned for its crispy-edged "smashed" double burgers. Though they're flatter than your typical burger and pack an impressive crunch from the grill oil, these burgers maintain a surprising amount of satisfying juiciness.
IOWA: The Cider House, in Fairfield, won this year's Best Burger in Iowa contest with its locally raised beef patties. The Cider House, which just opened last year, pays tribute to its previous life as a barber shop with the "barber shop special" — a burger with reduced onions, Dutch-style mustard, and "special sauce #1."
KANSAS: Prairie Village favorite BRGR Kitchen + Bar burgers are made of a tender chuck and short-rib blend, but can be upgraded to bison meat on request. One of the most popular: the Cinco de Mayo, a chorizo and beef burger made with pepper jack, pico de gallo, grilled jalapeno, avocado, and tortilla strips on a corn bun.
KENTUCKY: Game specializes in unique and exotic meats to make its burger. Visit the Louisville restaurant and order by type of animal, from kangaroo and elk to duck and boar — yes, they also have beef. And don't forget a side of duck-fat fries.
LOUISIANA: Company Burger was called the best burger joint in New Orleans by Gambit's Best of New Orleans three years running. Its winning menu item is THE Company Burger, a classic rendition of the all-American double hamburger with American cheese, homemade pickles, and red onion.
MAINE: Halfway between Portland and Bar Harbor, the Owls Head General Store is famous for its epic seven-napkin burger. As you bite into the loosely packed and severely juicy burger, you'll soon find out how it got its name. Challenge yourself further with "the whole hoot," a burger that uses two grilled cheese sandwiches as the bun.
MARYLAND: Baltimore's Abbey Burger Bistro prides itself on the build-your-own method. You can choose from beef, chicken, bison, kangaroo, and a range of other meats, and top them to your heart's content.
MASSACHUSETTS: Plan B Burger also has locations in Connecticut and the DC area, but its Springfield location's burger topped the "Best of Mass" list in 2014. The burger wowed judges with its juicy pink interior and soft pretzel-roll bun.
MICHIGAN: The burgers at Laura's Little Burger Joint in Decatur are anything but little. Ranking first on multiple lists of the best burgers in Michigan, the Chapman Burger is 7 ounces of beef that's been grilled and topped with pepper-jack cheese, bacon, and grilled onions.
MINNESOTA: The Jucy Lucy — or Juicy Lucy, depending on where you order it — a burger that's stuffed with cheese that oozes out at the first bite, is Minneapolis' best burger. Two establishments — 5-8 Club and Matt's Bar — both claim to have invented it, and both are great burgers, but we'll have to go with Matt's on this one.
MISSISSIPPI: The Neon Pig Cafe, in Tupelo, won the title of best burger in the nation from Thrillist for its famous smash burger — a concoction of five different cuts of meat ground together and served on a ciabatta roll with bacon bits, cheddar, pickles, pickled onion, hoisin sauce, and house-special "comeback" sauce.
MISSOURI: The Food Network called Kansas City's Westport Flea Market Bar & Grill — which isn't really a flea market — the place to get the best burger in Missouri. The "super flea" is Westport's ultimate food challenge: a five-patty burger with bacon, cheese, and a 2-pound side of fries.
MONTANA: Nap's Grill's award-winning burger has been satisfying customers from Hamilton and beyond for over 15 years. Delicious in their simplicity, the burgers can be made in 6- or 12-ounce patties with cheese, bacon, grilled onions, or mushrooms.
NEBRASKA: This year, the Nebraska Beef Council gave the award for best burger in the state to Goonie's Kozy Keno Bar. The Gering bar and restaurant makes its popular Goonie burger juicy, spicy, and flavorful, prepared at your preferred temperature.
NEVADA: The Gordon Ramsay Burger at Gordon Ramsay BurGR stands out as the best burger on the Las Vegas Strip. The burger, made with Mangalitsa pork, maple butter, English sharp cheese, and arugula, is cooked over an open wood flame.
NEW HAMPSHIRE: New Hampshire Magazine readers voted the burger at North Woodstock's Woodstock Inn Station & Brewery as the best in the state. WIS&B even makes a spent grain and bean burger, with spent grain straight from the brewery, topped with fresh jalapeno slices — if you can handle the heat.
NEW JERSEY: This year, NJ.com readers said Krug's Tavern in Newark has the best burger in Jersey by far. Krug's gets its meat from a Newark-based wholesaler and gives each burger 20 minutes of TLC on the grill, followed by toppings that range from marinara sauce and mozzarella to New Jersey specialty Taylor ham.
NEW MEXICO: San Antonio's Buckhorn Tavern won a throwdown against grill master Bobby Flay in 2009 with its "green chile cheeseburger." Along with the cheese and famous green chili — a hallmark ingredient in New Mexican food — the burger includes lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions, and mustard.
NEW YORK: This year, the winner of the Time Out New York Battle of the Burger was Staten Island's Standard Burger, beating out classics like Burger Joint and Minetta Tavern for the title. The LaFrieda chuck, short rib, and brisket blend gets an upgrade from Himalayan salt, house-made sour pickles, and Hillside Farms cheese.
NORTH CAROLINA: Named one of the best burger joints in the US by TripAdvisor, Hops Burger Bar in Greensboro puts an international spin on its burgers, with unique ingredients like wasabi slaw, jalapeno bacon, and French-onion gravy. Don't forget that the quality of the burger is top-notch, too, and it's made with certified Angus beef.
NORTH DAKOTA: For less than $5, you can get JL Beers' delicious Humpty Dumpty, which comes with cheese and a fried egg on a soft bun. This regional chain, which originated in North Dakota, recently won best burger by High Plains Reader and other publications.
OHIO: Swensons Drive-In in Akron has been around for 80 years and has been making local Best Burger lists for over a decade. The signature burger is the "Galley Boy," a double cheeseburger with two special sauces and an olive for garnish.
OKLAHOMA: Nic's Grill may be a tiny Oklahoma City shack, but tons of people come to try its delicious onion burgers, which are served with heaps of fries. Nic's was featured on the Food Network show "Diners, Drive-ins & Dives."
OREGON: Cheesy Stuffed Burgers is just as decadent as it sounds. The Corvallis burger joint is widely known for its bacon lover's burger, with crispy bits of bacon crumbled right into the burger, topped with cheese, a barbecue marinade and, if you want, even more bacon.
PENNSYLVANIA: In Philly's Rittenhouse Square neighborhood, Good Dog Bar & Restaurant is most famous for its signature good dog burger — a ground sirloin patty stuffed with Roquefort cheese and topped with caramelized onions on a brioche bun. All burgers are served with a side of mixed potato/sweet potato fries.
RHODE ISLAND: The Abbey in Providence is a little pub known for its burgers and beer. It has 14 different signature burgers, including the roadhouse burger — a 10-ounce slab of meat with Gruyere cheese, bacon, two types of onion (caramelized and ring), and garlic mayo on an onion roll.
SOUTH CAROLINA: Poe's Tavern is a quirky beachside restaurant that pays homage to Edgar Allan Poe. Each burger is named for one of the renowned poet's works. Take the "Annabel Lee" burger, for example, which consists of a patty topped with a Charleston-style crab cake and fresh vegetable remoulade sauce.
SOUTH DAKOTA: You can taste the love in every bite at Custer's Black Hills Burger & Bun Co. The burger joint, family-owned and -operated for years, rotates its burger of the week based on the season. This week it's the harvest burger, with savory apple butter, cheddar cheese, bacon, and craisin-walnut slaw.
TENNESSEE: Located close to Vanderbilt University, Rotier's Restaurant is famous for its cheeseburger served on toasty French bread. Named to multiple "best burger" lists, Rotier's imparts flavor to its burgers through the tried-and-true, 70-year-old flat top grill.
TEXAS: They say everything's bigger in Texas, and that includes the burgers. The Grape Restaurant, in Dallas, makes a generously portioned 10-ounce cheeseburger with peppered bacon, Vermont white cheddar, Nathan's horseradish half-sour pickles, and Dijon mayo with a side of fries. Texas Monthly called it the best in Texas.
UTAH: We couldn't leave Crown Burgers' famous pastrami burger off this list. The Salt Lake City burger is a meat-lover's fantasy, topped with a quarter pound of thin-sliced pastrami, slathered with a thousand-island-style sauce, and topped with tomatoes, shaved lettuce, and onions.
VERMONT: Worthy Burger was voted Vermont's best burger by Seven Days, an independent local publication. In addition to serving great burgers, the South Royalton craft beer and burger bar offers an array of local Vermont cheeses and house-made condiments.
VIRGINIA: Serving hamburgers massive enough to split, Leesburg's Melt Gourmet Cheeseburgers is the real deal, according to diners. Melt won best burger in its county, boasting creative concoctions like the blue-plate special burger, with applewood-smoked bacon, pimento cheese, lettuce, tomato, a fried egg, and special house sauce.
WASHINGTON: John Howie Steak, in Bellevue, is renowned for the 60/40 Prime Juicy Lucy Burger. It's made of ground prime chuck and bacon and comes stacked with sharp New York cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses, caramelized onions, mayo, lettuce, and tomato, sandwiched between a sweet, house-baked bun.
WASHINGTON, DC: BGR: The Burger Joint only uses free-roaming, grain-fed cattle with no hormones, fillers, or antibiotics. They grill their beefy patties over an open flame and get their fresh buns delivered daily. Their "Legend" is served with prime, dry-aged beef, and you can add your own toppings like Applewood bacon or grilled pineapple.
WEST VIRGINIA: Locals swear by West Virginia regional chain Fat Patty's. The popular Born on the Bayou burger is blackened with Cajun spices, sautéed onions and peppers, melted provolone cheese, lettuce, and tomato and served with a special honey-mustard glaze slathered on the bun.
WISCONSIN: Wisconsin is known for the decadent "butter burger," and no one does it better than Solly's Grille in Glendale. Featured on the Travel Channel's "Burger Land," Solly's puts a heaping pat of butter on its burger for extra crispness, creaminess and — who are we kidding? — deliciousness.
WYOMING: The Bird is a laid-back bar and restaurant in Jackson that grinds all of its meat in-house. Its burgers come on English muffins, and guests are strongly encouraged to order medium rare to get the full flavor. You can have fun ordering the "dirty @*&%" which comes with bacon, a fried egg, American cheese, and pickled beets.
