This CA Fast Food Burger Named Best In Nation

IRVINE, CA — America’s best fast food burger is once again the Double Char from Habit Burger & Grill, according to a recent ranking from USA Today.

The newspaper’s 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards of 2026 gave the title to the Irvine-based burger chain earlier this month for the third year in a row.

“Order the Double Char from the Habit's California-inspired menu and get ready for two freshly chargrilled beef patties, caramelized onions, fresh lettuce, and tomato, pickles, and mayo on a toasted bun,” USA Today said in the ranking.

Habit has been charring burgers since 1969, when the chain got its start in Santa Barbara, the newspaper reported, adding that Habit now has over 350 restaurants.

The Golden State was well-represented in the ranking, with In-N-Out Burger’s Double-Double coming in second. USA Today praised the Double-Double's “scrumptious freshly baked bun” and noted its “proprietary spread recipe unchanged since 1948.”

The Double-Double was also No. 2 on the list in 2024 but dropped to No. 4 in the ranking last year. In-N-Out is based in Irvine.

In past years, Habit has used the ranking as an opportunity to needle its California competition via a billboard outside In-N-Out’s drive-thru near Los Angeles International Airport that initially congratulated In-N-Out on its second-place finish but was later updated to reflect the drop to fourth place.

The USA Today 10Best fast food burger ranking is determined by editors and an expert panel, as well as readers voting for their favorites.

The full ranking is as follows:

1. Double Char, Habit Burger & Grill
2. Double-Double, In-N-Out Burger
3. Freddy's Original Double, Freddy's Frozen Custard and Steakburgers
4. Papa Burger, A&W
5. ButterBurger Cheese, Double, Culver’s
6. SmokeShack, Shake Shack
7. Cheeseburger, Five Guys
8. Whopper, Burger King
9. Son of Baconator, Wendy's
10. Double Meat Whataburger, Whataburger