By Jonan Pilet on June 10, 2024

A recent analysis has revealed that New Jersey holds the dubious distinction of having the dirtiest restaurants in the United States. According to data compiled from TripAdvisor reviews, New Jersey had an overwhelming number of complaints regarding restaurant cleanliness, far surpassing other states.

The study, conducted by Affordable Seating, analyzed reviews mentioning hygiene issues such as “dirty restaurant,” “rats,” “roaches” and “hair in food.” New Jersey led the pack with an astounding 320,520 complaints about dirty restaurants — 854 percent higher than the average across the Top 10 dirtiest states. New Jersey had 1,883 reviews mentioning hair in food and 810 complaints about rats and roaches.

Following New Jersey, Florida and California were the next states with significant cleanliness issues. Florida had 4,560 complaints about dirty restaurants and 636 mentions of rats and roaches. California, while having fewer complaints about dirty restaurants, 3,332, had the highest number of complaints about rodents, with 960 reviews mentioning rats and roaches.