Every road tripper has a private ranking of exits. The one with the good gas station. The one with everything. We decided to settle it with data: every exit in America, ranked by what's actually there.
At least 85 mapped places within a mile of the ramp: 29+ restaurants, 20 gas stations, 24 hotels, and a dozen attractions — the only exit in the top ten where the attractions include the literal Las Vegas Strip. Of course it's Vegas.
| Exit | Where | Places (min.) |
|---|---|---|
| I-83 Exit 1, Fayette St | Baltimore, MD | 88 |
| I-45 Exit 284C, Downtown | Dallas, TX | 87 |
| I-15 Exit 118, Historic Downtown | Idaho Falls, ID | 86 |
| I-15 Exit 40, Sahara Ave | Las Vegas, NV | 85 |
| I-90 Exit 131, Brighton/Cambridge | Boston, MA | 83 |
| I-80 Exit 1A-B, Golden Gate Bridge | San Francisco, CA | 83 |
| I-15 Exit 8, St. George Blvd | St. George, UT | 83 |
| I-40 Exit 198, Butler Ave | Flagstaff, AZ | 83 |
Raw totals favor downtowns — Baltimore's Exit 1 technically outscores everyone, but calling a downtown grid an "exit experience" feels like cheating. Which is why the crown goes to Sahara Avenue: it wins the only way an exit should, by being an actual off-ramp where the roadside itself is the destination.
Filter out the big-city grids and one exit stands alone: I-40 Exit 198, Butler Avenue, Flagstaff, Arizona. At least 83 places, on historic Route 66, at 7,000 feet, halfway between the Petrified Forest and the Grand Canyon turnoff. It is everything an exit aspires to be: fuel, food, a bed, and a reason you got in the car in the first place.
Rankings start arguments; brackets settle them. We're seeding the top 64 exits in America into a March Madness-style bracket this fall and letting road trippers vote. If your town's exit belongs in it, make your case: jake@pit-stop-app.com.