How many gas stations are there in the United States?

Question

You do not know the number, but you know the country has about 330 million people. Solve in your head. Estimate how many gas stations there are in the United States. Aim: under 45 seconds.

Accepted Answer

The clean way is to guess a "customers per station" ratio. A busy station might serve a few thousand people who live nearby. Take one station per 2{,}500 people: \frac{330{,}000{,}000}{2{,}500} = \frac{330{,}000}{2.5} = 132{,}000. If you instead assume one per 3{,}000 people you get 110{,}000; one per 2{,}000 gives 165{,}000. So the honest estimate is somewhere around 110{,}000–165{,}000, centered near 130{,}000. (The real figure sits around 115{,}000–150{,}000.) Takeaway. For "how many X in a country" problems, convert to a per-person ratio and divide the population, the ratio is where your …

How many gas stations are there in the United States?

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