Gas stations compete on more than a pump price. Drivers choose where to stop based on location, familiarity, convenience, perceived value, and trust in the overall experience.
YouGov’s U.S. gas station rankings 2026 examines which brands U.S. gas station visitors would consider the next time they are looking to fill up their tanks. The analysis also highlights year-over-year movement in consideration and consumer perceptions of value and quality.
In this article, we cover:
- Top 10 gas station brands by Consideration among U.S. gas station visitors
- Year-over-year Consideration changes
- How Consideration differs across U.S. regions
- How gas station brands compare based on Value (net) and Quality (net) scores
- Methodology behind the rankings
- How to explore deeper gas station brand data and competitor benchmarks
Which gas station brands lead in Consideration?
Shell ranks first among U.S. gas station visitors, with 25.4% saying they would consider the brand the next time they are in the market. 7-Eleven follows at 22.8%, while ExxonMobil ranks third at 20.3%.
Circle K ranks fourth at 18.4%, Chevron follows with a 17.0% Consideration score. BP (15.5%), Wawa (14.7%), Love’s (12.8%), Sunoco (11.7%), and Marathon (10.8%) round out the top 10.
The leaders include major fuel brands, regional operators, and gas station brands well-known for their convenience stores, which highlights that drivers may be weighing both fuel access and broader stop-by-stop convenience when they fill up next.
Which gas station brands moved most year-over-year?
Among gas station brands that we have tracked for 18+ months in YouGov BrandIndex, Circle K records the largest year-over-year Consideration gain, rising 1.2 percentage points. Marathon follows with a 0.6-point gain, while Love’s rises 0.4 points and 76 Gas rises 0.2 points.
In this analysis, we also see brands whose Consideration score decreased year-over-year. Shell and ExxonMobil each fell 0.8 points, while BP declined 0.7 points. Conoco (-0.5) and Sunoco (-0.4) both saw minor declines in consideration among gas station visitors.
How does gas station Consideration vary by region?
When we take a look at regional splits, we see that gas station preferences are very regional.
Shell leads in the South at 27.9%, while Chevron leads in the West at 26.4%. ExxonMobil records the highest Consideration score in the Northeast at 24.2%.
The Midwest is tighter: Shell stands at 24.8%, narrowly ahead of BP at 23.3%.
While some U.S. gas station brands have a national presence, many are concentrated in specific regions, and these rankings highlight that.
Some brands show clearer regional strength than others. Wawa records 23.8% in the Northeast and 20.3% in the South, but 7.7% in the West where it only has a few locations compared to other regions. BP is strongest in the Midwest and weakest in the West (8.2%).
Which gas station brands lead on value and quality?
While consideration shows which brands make the consideration set, value and quality offer a different view of how gas station brands are perceived by U.S. gas station visitors.
7-Eleven leads all gas stations on Value (net), with a score of 18.5. Wawa follows at 15.6, while Circle K ranks third at 14.8 and Shell record a 14.5 Value score.
Shell leads on Quality (net), with a score of 29.0. ExxonMobil follows at 23.8, ahead of Chevron at 23.2 and 7-Eleven at 19.2.
The Value and Quality results add nuance to the Consideration ranking. Shell combines the highest national Consideration with the highest Quality (Net), while 7-Eleven combines second-highest Consideration with the strongest Value score. Circle K pairs the largest year-over-year gain with one of the stronger Value results among the displayed brands.
It is also worth noting that brands that also operate as a convenience store - 7-Eleven, WaWa, and Circle K - all rank in the top three for net Value. This could indicate a positive correlation between perceived value for money and offering a service beyond just fuel fills.
Methodology
This article draws on YouGov BrandIndex data collected among U.S. gas station visitors from August 1, 2025 to July 31, 2026. Year-over-year comparisons use August 1, 2024 to July 31, 2025 versus August 1, 2025 to July 31, 2026.
7-Eleven, Wawa, RaceTrac, and Sheetz were not eligible for the year-over-year analysis due to not being tracked in YouGov BrandIndex for 18+ months.
Consideration is the percentage of respondents who would consider a brand the next time they are in the market. Value (Net) and Quality (Net) are net perception scores.
The current leaders table is based on U.S. gas station visitors, n>3,440. The year-over-year table is based on U.S. gas station visitors, n>18,470 for 2026 and n>14,600 for 2025 among displayed brands with valid comparison data. The regional comparison includes U.S. gas station visitors, n>3,440; U.S. adults based in the Midwest, n>670; Northeast, n>590; South, n>1,390; and West, n>770.
Figures are rounded to one decimal place. Change in score is shown in percentage points.
The U.S. gas stations tracked by YouGov BrandIndex include: Shell, 7-Eleven, ExxonMobil, Circle K, Chevron, BP, Wawa, Love’s, Sunoco, Marathon, Sheetz, Phillips 66, Citgo, RaceTrac, Conoco, and 76 Gas. RaceTrac is normalized from the source label Race Trac.
The relevant YouGov BrandIndex questions are: Consideration: When you are in the market next to purchase from one of the following brands, from which of the following would you consider purchasing? Value (Net): Which of the following brands do you think represents good or poor value for money? Quality (Net): Which of the following brands do you think represents good or poor quality?
Disclosure: The data analysis in this article was conducted by YouGov with the assistance of AI tools.
About YouGov BrandIndex
YouGov BrandIndex is an always-on, daily brand tracking tool that measures consumer perceptions of thousands of brands across sectors and markets. It helps marketers monitor brand health, benchmark competitors, identify audience-specific strengths and weaknesses, and understand how perceptions change over time.
Explore more hotel brand data
This ranking is one view of the broader gas station and fuel-retail data available in YouGov BrandIndex. Additional analysis can include competitor benchmarks, regional cuts, movement over time, customer groups, and other relevant BrandIndex measures.
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