This Popular Chicken Chain Has Closed Hundreds Of Locations — Including In IL

Over 300 KFC locations have closed nationwide in roughly the last year, including 13 in Illinois, according to a recent analysis.

From July 15, 2025, to July 6, 2026, at least 312 KFC restaurants in the U.S. — or 7.64 percent of its American footprint — shuttered, AI search visibility platform Local Falcon found.

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Local Falcon compared the chain's public store locator at the beginning and end of the time period measured, and each restaurant listing removed with a 404 error was independently verified using Google Maps.

California, the state with the biggest KFC footprint, lost the most restaurants, with 44, the analysis found. Illinois, with its 13 restaurants shuttered, was among the top 10 states impacted by the closures and lost 10.6 percent of its KFC footprint. Utah, Rhode Island and New Hampshire did not see any closings.

Local Falcon noted that KFC's Google ratings in the U.S. were the lowest of eight major chicken chains, averaging 3.42 stars across 2,885 rated locations. Chick-fil-A's ratings were the highest, with 4.3 stars on average across 3,306 rated restaurants.

As of Tuesday, the KFC website listed 112 locations in Illinois, and 3,762 in total nationwide.

It hasn't been all closures for KFC. According to a second-quarter results report published July 30 by the chain's parent company, Yum! Brands, KFC opened 660 gross new restaurants across 55 countries and had 7 percent unit growth.