The 25 Best Burgers in America, Ranked

This is the ranking that starts fights. After years of eating, arguing, and cross-referencing thousands of reviews, here is The Pass’s definitive ranking of the 25 burgers you must eat in America, counted down from #25 to #1, with no hedging.

The griddle is the through-line. A proper crust on the patty, cheese melted edge to edge, a bun that holds without fighting back. Everything else is a regional accent: the onion smash, the molten Jucy Lucy core, the green chile drift, the dry-aged funk. Eat your way down this list and you will have eaten the country.

More Pass rankings: the 20 best classic sandwiches in America, the 25 best restaurants in New Orleans, and the 25 best restaurants in Lafayette, home turf of our #1 griddle.

25. Von’s 1000 Spirits: Seattle, WA

Website Photo: vons1000spirits.com (venue’s own site, locations page)

Double Smashed American Burger

Two lacy patties off a real flat-top, crisped edges, cheese folded over the sides, special sauce and pickles on a toasted bun that holds to the last bite. The burger the way you always wanted the American burger to taste. The people behind the line actually care about the sear, and you can tell. Von’s is a downtown Seattle gastropub with a bar program that takes its drinks seriously, and the burger is built to match the room: better than bar food has any right to be.

What to order: the double smash and a cocktail from the back bar, or a crisp lager if you want to keep it classic. The burger was built for the bar program. Order like it.

When to go: before a game or a show downtown, when the room is at full hum. Mid-teens for the burger, a fair shake for the quality.

Pro tip: Downtown parking is the real opponent here. Train or rideshare in, and keep the evening simple.

24. Louis’ Lunch: New Haven, CT

Website Photo: Our New England Legends (podcast 302: New Haven’s controversial first hamburger)

Original hamburger sandwich

Ground steak flame-broiled on vertical cast-iron grills, the kind of direct-flame char no flat-top can fake. Tucked into white toast, cheese, tomato, and onion if you want the works. The toast soaks up the juices until it stops being packaging and starts being the burger. Louis’ Lunch is said to have served the first hamburger here in 1895, and the tiny brick building on Crown Street still runs like it: no ketchup, ever. Not a preference. A house rule older than most American food scenes. Respect it.

What to order: the works, cheese, tomato, and onion, said plainly, no improvising. A birch beer keeps it period-correct.

When to go: lunch, when the grills are roaring and the line moves fast. Prices frozen in a kinder era. The history is free.

Pro tip: Do not ask for ketchup. They do not have it, and the regulars will notice.

23. Kewpee Hamburgers: Lima, OH

Website Photo: Superior Realtors (Lima, Ohio guide)

Square fresh-beef double cheeseburger

Fresh, never-frozen beef pressed into a square patty on the griddle while you watch, doubled up, American cheese, a pickle, a soft bun. The square is not a gimmick. It is a 1928 inheritance, from before the round-patty consensus settled. Kewpee is among the oldest burger names in America, and the Lima original still runs like a neighborhood diner: made to order, no shortcuts, the griddle doing all the talking.

What to order: the double with cheese, and a malt or a shake from the counter. Lima is not on the way to anywhere. Make the detour the point.

When to go: lunch at the counter, watching the griddle. Small-town prices, made to order.

Pro tip: Order at the counter and watch the griddle. The show is part of the meal.

22. Tookie’s: Kemah, TX

Website Photo: FamilyDestinationsGuide (Texas local burgers)

#99 Burger

A wine-marinated beef patty, thick, juicy, real heft, dressed all the way on a bun built to hold it. The marinade seasons the beef through every bite. It eats like Texas in bun form: big, confident, in no hurry at all. Tookie’s is a Galveston Bay landmark in a green wooden building on the Kemah waterfront, feeding the boardwalk crowds for decades.

What to order: the #99, full stop, with a shake or a cold beer, the bay in view. The waterfront is half the argument.

When to go: golden hour on a weekday. The boardwalk crowds own the weekends, and the calm version of Tookie’s is the better one. Fair pricing for a big Texas burger.

Pro tip: The #99 is serious. Do not order sides like you have something to prove.

21. Hwy 101 Burger: Lincoln City, OR

Website Photo: FamilyDestinationsGuide (Oregon no-frills restaurants)

202 Burger

A proper griddled double cheeseburger with fresh toppings, and a combo, burger, fries, and a drink, for around eleven to thirteen dollars, that beats rooms charging triple. The patty gets a real crust. The toppings are cold and crisp. The whole thing eats like the roadside America that built the burger. Hwy 101 is an old-school coast-highway shack in Lincoln City, and the thesis is simple: honest food, honest prices, and salt air included free.

What to order: the combo, burger, fries, and a drink, with the Pacific in view. One of the best values on the list, and one of the happiest.

When to go: a weekday or the off-season, before the 101 summer traffic finds the line. The combo is the whole argument.

Pro tip: Order at the counter, grab a booth, and let the kids loose on the arcade games.

20. Town Topic Hamburgers: Kansas City, MO

Website Photo: TourScanner (things to do in Kansas City)

Double cheeseburger, onion smash

Two patties smashed straight into a tangle of shaved onion on the flat-top. American cheese melting through the whole stack, on a soft bun. The onions caramelize into the beef until you cannot tell where one ends and the other begins, sweet, beefy, and exactly what a night out should end with. Town Topic is a Kansas City late-night counter under an iconic neon sign. It tastes best when the city is winding down around you.

What to order: the double, mandatory, with a chocolate shake as the chaser. This is post-midnight food.

When to go: after 10pm. Open late is the whole point, and the counter is at its best when the night is. Diner prices. The experience is the luxury.

Pro tip: Counter seating only. Keep the party small and the order simple.

19. Hamburger America: New York, NY

Website Photo: Gourmand Syndrome

Oklahoma fried onion burger

A beef ball smashed straight into a heap of shaved onions, griddle-caramelized to a deep brown, American cheese draped over the top, pickles, a soft bun. The onions fuse into the beef until every bite is sweet and beefy at once. The Depression-era Oklahoma technique, executed with scholar-level obsession. George Motz has spent his career documenting the American hamburger in books and films, and built this 15-stool SoHo luncheonette at 155 W Houston St as a love letter to it. The fried onion burger is the thesis. The double, at about eleven-fifty, is the move.

What to order: the double fried onion burger, shoestring fries, and a chocolate milk. The classic counter order, and the correct one. A rotating regional special runs monthly, so ask what is on.

When to go: lunch, for a counter stool and a front-row seat at the griddle. Open daily 11:30 to 9, and it fills fast, early beats the line. Eleven-fifty for the double is the steal of the top 20.

Pro tip: Watch the smash happen. The griddle is the whole show, and the stool is the best seat in SoHo.

18. Tommy’s Burger Stop: Anchorage, AK

Website Photo: TripAdvisor (user photo on Tommy’s Burger Stop listing)

Aloha burger

A Cajun-seasoned patty glazed with teriyaki, grilled pineapple, Swiss cheese, on a toasted bun. The peppery crust against the sweet char of the pineapple, the Swiss holds the whole unlikely thing together. Tommy’s is a Spenard original and an Anchorage institution: a local joint doing Hawaiian-inspired burgers in Alaska, which makes perfect sense the moment you are eating it.

What to order: the Aloha, it is the signature. The Cajun seasoning runs through the menu if you want to explore. Keep the drink simple, a shake or a soda, and let the burger talk.

When to go: off-hours in summer, when the tourist lines thin out. Big-burger prices for a big burger.

Pro tip: The Spenard location is the original. It has the character.

17. Nic’s Grill: Oklahoma City, OK

Website Photo: Family Destinations Guide

Half-pound Oklahoma onion cheeseburger

A half-pound patty pressed into a crispy crust of shaved onion. American cheese. Toasted bun. The onion-burger royalty of Oklahoma City: a tangle of onion smashed straight into the beef, griddled until the edges shatter, the cheese melted over the top. The Depression-era technique, perfected at a tiny cash-only counter with a cult following.

What to order: the onion burger and a drink. The burger is essentially the entire menu, and the experience is the order.

When to go: lunch, expecting a line. Consider the line part of the fun. Cash only, counter prices.

Pro tip: The half-pound is hefty, and the onion crust is the star. Do not drown it in condiments.

16. White Manna Hamburgers: Hackensack, NJ

Website Photo: Christopher J. Martin

Double cheeseburger slider with onions

Two thin patties steamed on a bed of shaved onions, cheese melting into the allium sweetness, scooped up on small soft buns. The sliders come off the grill saturated with onion flavor, each one gone in three bites, which is why you order by the sack. White Manna is a Jersey institution in a tiny Hackensack counter, shoulder-to-shoulder, and it has never needed more space.

What to order: a sack of sliders, more than you think you need, with a chocolate milk or a soda from the counter.

When to go: off-peak, or prepare to wait with the regulars. The price is small-town, even by Jersey standards.

Pro tip: Eat them immediately, standing at the counter, while the onions are still steaming.

15. Le Diplomate: Washington, DC

Website · Reservations Photo: Secret DC

Burger Américain

A proper-seared patty, nutty melted gruyere, onions cooked down to jam, a burger with bistro polish. Stephen Starr’s 14th Street brasserie does the French-American burger as well as anyone does it. The room glows like a Paris cafe transplanted to Logan Circle, and the burger belongs to it completely.

What to order: the Burger Américain with the frites, mandatory, since this is a brasserie, and a glass of red or a proper cocktail.

When to go: the bar and cafe take walk-ins when the dining room books up, and the burger tastes just as good on a barstool. This is the date-night pick of the Top 25, and the pricing matches the room.

Pro tip: Dress like it is a date, even if it is not.

14. Motz’s Burgers: Detroit, MI

Website Photo: Motz’s Burgers (official website)

Oklahoma-style onion double slider

Paper-thin patties smashed into a tangle of griddled onions. American cheese. Small soft buns. Gone in three bites each. The Oklahoma technique with Detroit attitude: the onions press into the beef until they fuse, the cheese drapes over the top, and the whole thing costs almost nothing. Motz’s is famously cheap, which is exactly why the slider is the best value-per-bite argument in the top 15.

What to order: a sack of sliders and a soda. Keep the tab small on purpose. This is fast food in the best sense.

When to go: lunch or a quick dinner. Famously cheap means you can be generous with yourself, order more sliders than seems reasonable.

Pro tip: Eat them hot. Sliders wait for no one.

13. Matt’s Bar: Minneapolis, MN

Website Photo: My Family Travels

Original Jucy Lucy

A griddled patty with American cheese sealed inside, molten on the first bite. The cheese stays liquid-hot long after the patty rests, so bite one is a controlled eruption. Yes, it is spelled Jucy, and the locals will correct you. Matt’s is the Minneapolis neighborhood bar that claims the invention, and the burger tastes like the place: unpretentious, perfected, best eaten with a game on.

What to order: the Jucy Lucy and a cold beer. The bar setting demands it. Fries or tots if you are making an evening of it.

When to go: settle in for the evening, like a regular. Bar prices for a bar legend.

Pro tip: Let it rest a full minute before the first bite. The molten core is genuinely dangerous.

12. Brooks’ Sandwich House: Charlotte, NC

Website Photo: Family Destinations Guide

Cheeseburger all the way

A cheeseburger all the way means chili, slaw, mustard, and onions. Beefy chili against cool crisp slaw, mustard cutting through, on a soft bun. It eats like the Carolinas in a bun: old-school, complete, no substitutions needed. Brooks’ has run the same red-building counter in Charlotte since 1973, cash only, and the 50-year formula does not want your edits.

What to order: all the way. Do not customize it. A sweet tea or a soda, and you are eating Charlotte history.

When to go: lunch, with the line of regulars. Cash only, counter prices, a small room.

Pro tip: All the way means all the way. Trust the chili-slaw-mustard-onion canon.

11. Sparky’s Burgers, BBQ & Espresso: Hatch, NM

Website Photo: Robin Craig / Gotham Girl Chronicles, via Sparky’s Burgers & BBQ

World Famous Green Chile Cheeseburger

A griddled patty buried under a drift of roasted Hatch green chile and American cheese, the bun going soft and wet underneath it all. The chile is the point, long green pods roasted until the skins blister black and the flesh turns sweet-hot, piled on thick in the town that grows them. Smoke, heat, beef, cheese, and nothing wasted. Sparky’s is a roadside counter on Franklin Street in Hatch, the self-crowned Chile Capital of the World, and its roofline bristles with giant statues hoisting burgers to the desert sky. Josie and Teako Nunn built it from a shared dream, her design and handcrafted coffee, his wood-fired barbecue and made-from-scratch green chile cheeseburgers, and for more than twenty years it has been the pilgrimage stop for chile true believers driving I-25. Eater’s own pick out of the Southwest, via their “What Is Southwestern Food?” piece, and it is easy to taste why.

What to order: the green chile cheeseburger, doubled, two patties, two layers of chile, American cheese on both. The wood-fired barbecue is the second act, if you are still standing.

When to go: Thursday through Sunday, 10:30 to 5:30, they close Monday through Wednesday, and the weekend line is part of the deal. Late summer, when the chile harvest is on and the roasters are running, is the move. Counter pricing for a roadside legend.

Pro tip: The bun goes wet under all that chile. Flip the burger upside down and eat it the way the locals do.

10. Peter Luger Steak House: Brooklyn, NY

Website · Reservations Photo: Vox Media / Eater

Lunch-only Luger Burger

Dry-aged beef, thick-cut bacon, on an English muffin. A steakhouse burger with absolutely nothing to prove. The dry-aged blend eats like a chopped steak. The bacon is thick enough to stand on. The English muffin soaks up the juices without surrendering. Luger has been the Williamsburg steakhouse since 1887, and the burger only exists at lunch, which is exactly why the regulars plan around it.

What to order: the Luger Burger, and the German fried potatoes if they are on. Order like it is a steakhouse lunch, because it is.

When to go: lunch, obviously, the burger leaves the menu when lunch service ends. Book ahead. Luger does not do walk-in whimsy. Steakhouse pricing for a lunch-only legend.

Pro tip: The burger is the insider’s order. The dining room regulars know.

9. Bub’s NOLA: New Orleans, LA

Website Photo: Lovefood (lovefood.com)

Bub Burger

Two smashed patties, grilled onions, American cheese, bread-and-butter pickles, Bub Sauce, butter-toasted brioche. Maximum crust from the smash. Sweet-acid cut from the pickles. The sauce tying the whole thing together, on a brioche rich enough to stand up to all of it. Bub’s started in Mid-City, New Orleans, and the original location still has the soul even as the name has spread.

What to order: the Bub Burger with something cold beside it, a shake or a local beer. The double is plenty; the brioche is rich.

When to go: lunch, to dodge the dinner rush. Solid pricing for a double smash with real technique.

Pro tip: Do not skip the pickles. They are doing real work.

8. Kuma’s Corner: Chicago, IL

Website Photo: Family Destinations Guide (familydestinationsguide.com)

Famous Kuma

A half-pound patty, bacon, cheddar, a fried egg, on a chewy pretzel bun. The runny yolk becomes the sauce. The bacon brings the smoke. The pretzel bun holds the whole heavy thing together. Kuma’s is an Avondale metal bar where every burger is named for a metal band, loud room, heavy pours, and the Famous Kuma at full volume.

What to order: the Famous Kuma and a heavy beer. The bar program is built for it. The mac and cheese if you are going all in.

When to go: off-peak, or put your name in and grab a drink. The wait is legendary. Big-burger, big-beer pricing.

Pro tip: The pretzel bun is dense, and the half-pound plus egg is a commitment. Arrive hungry.

7. Sip & Guzzle: New York, NY

Website · Reservations Photo: Wheree (where-e.com)

Royale With Cheese, A5 wagyu

A5 wagyu beef tenderloin, aged white cheddar, wasabi-infused barbecue sauce, rice vinegar, and shio koji, in soft shokupan milk bread, presented in a golden box. The $150 splurge burger: the most theatrical and most luxurious burger in America. The wagyu is almost impossibly rich. The wasabi-barbeque sauce cuts through it. The shokupan is the only bun delicate enough for the job. Sip & Guzzle is one of the country’s best cocktail bars, on Cornelia Street in the West Village, and the burger is the revelation inside it.

What to order: the Royale With Cheese and a proper cocktail. The room earns it, and the burger wants the full experience.

When to go: go for drinks and let the burger ambush you. The priciest burger-adjacent experience on the list, and the one most worth the splurge.

Pro tip: This is a bar first. The golden box is the only warning you get.

6. Cochon Butcher: New Orleans, LA

Website Photo: Wanderlog

Le Pig Mac

Two patties, special sauce, shredded lettuce, pickles, American cheese, sesame-seed bun. Like the best Big Mac you’ve ever had, the form, done properly. Donald Link’s crew butchers and grinds in-house, so the patties have a depth the drive-thru original can only dream about, beefy, juicy, the special-sauce tang keeping it honest. Cochon Butcher is a Warehouse District butcher shop and sandwich counter on Tchoupitoulas. The Le Pig Mac is the chef-driven answer to the most famous burger architecture in America.

What to order: the Le Pig Mac, then raid the butcher case, house-made charcuterie, a muffuletta to take home. A local beer at the counter.

When to go: lunch, when the counter is at its sweet spot and the case still has the good stuff. Counter pricing for chef-level beef.

Pro tip: It doubles as a butcher shop. Buy something for later.

5. Red Hook Tavern: Brooklyn, NY

Website · Reservations Photo: The Infatuation (photo: Teddy Wolff)

Dry-aged tavern burger

A dry-aged blend that eats like a steakhouse burger. American cheese draped over the edges, on a potato roll. The dry-aging gives the beef a funk and depth that reads like a ribeye, and the cheese melts over the sides the way it should. Red Hook Tavern is the Brooklyn tavern Billy Durney opened at the edge of the borough, a room that takes burgers and martinis equally seriously, small and beloved.

What to order: the burger and a martini. The power move. The burger is the reason half the tables are full.

When to go: book ahead or try the bar. Reservations are competitive. Red Hook is a trek, so make the burger the centerpiece of the trip, not a detour.

Pro tip: Order it medium and do not touch it. The tavern-burger standard of Brooklyn.

4. Fred’s Meat & Bread: Atlanta, GA

Website Photo: The Infatuation (photo: Amy Sinclair)

Butcher-counter burger

A butcher-counter burger with real beef flavor, dressed simply, because when the beef is this good, the burger does not need architecture. The grind is the whole story: fresh, beefy, the kind of sear that only comes from a flat-top that never rests. Fred’s is a counter inside Krog Street Market, a Michelin Bib Gourmand that eats like a neighborhood secret.

What to order: the burger, and if you are with a partner, the cheesesteak too. One of each, split down the middle. Graze the market before or after.

When to go: early or late lunch, around the Krog Market rush. The Bib means quality at counter prices, the best value in the top five.

Pro tip: Sit at the counter and watch the griddle work. It is the glory of the place.

3. The Win~Dow: Santa Monica, CA

Website Photo: Yelp (business photo, the-win-dow-santa-monica)

Walk-up smash burger

A no-fuss smash burger through a Santa Monica window: lacy edges, American cheese, soft potato bun. Simple, perfect, gone in four bites. The platonic ideal of the walk-up burger, executed with the confidence of a place that knows it does not need to do anything else. The Win~Dow is literally a window, and the ocean is the dining room.

What to order: the burger, a double if you are walking far, eaten on the move. This is beach food.

When to go: sunset, eaten on the sand. It is a window, not a restaurant: order, take, and walk. Walk-up prices for a perfect burger.

Pro tip: Do not overthink it, and do not dress it up. The burger is built for the beach.

2. Au Cheval: Chicago, IL

Website Photo: Hotspot Rentals (hotspotrentals.com)

Single cheeseburger with bacon and egg

Au Cheval’s naming runs one patty ahead of reality: the “single” arrives with two thin, crisp-edged patties, Dijonnaise, pickles, and, if you are wise, bacon and a fried egg. The burger that launched a thousand imitators. The imitators never quite get the Dijonnaise right, or the crust on the patties, or the way the egg yolk turns the whole thing into a sauce. The West Loop diner-bar glows like a place that knows it is famous and has stopped caring.

What to order: the single with bacon and egg, not optional, the order. A beer or a cocktail at the bar while you wait, because you will wait.

When to go: off-hours, late afternoon, weeknights, or put your name in and get a drink nearby. The line is real, and the wait is part of the legend. Big-city pricing, earned.

Pro tip: The egg pushes an already rich burger over the top in the best way. Commit.

1. Judice Inn: Lafayette, LA

Website Photo: SageMenu (sagemenu.com)

The Judice Inn cheeseburger

A griddled patty, melty American cheese, a toasted bun, the burger Lafayette has been eating since 1947, and the unmissable first stop on any serious American burger pilgrimage. The griddle does the talking: a proper crust, cheese melted edge to edge, a bun toasted just enough to hold it all together. The red-awning building is a Lafayette institution, and the room runs on ritual, the same burger, the same way, for generations.

What to order: the cheeseburger. The Zapp’s chips come on the side and stay on the side, nobody is putting them on your burger for you, so the local move is piling them on yourself at the table. And the milkshakes are to die for, order one, no matter what the voice of reason says.

When to go: lunch, when the griddle is at full song and the room is full of regulars. This is a 1947 ritual, participate fully. Small-town honest pricing.

Pro tip: Do not ask for fries, there are none, and the chips are the point. Pile them on the burger yourself, the way Lafayette does.

How we built this list

The research behind the panel runs through our 15-desk bench: Google and Yelp reviewers, food press from Eater to the New York Times to the Infatuation, the Michelin Guide, award bodies like the World’s 50 Best, the James Beard Awards, and the Spirited Awards, Reddit regulars, Resy diners, YouTube, and local Substacks and alt-weeklies. It feeds the table; the panel makes the call.

Then came the verification pass: we confirmed addresses, cities, signature dishes, and review history for every venue. The founder’s own verdicts, the Judice Inn ritual, the Le Pig Mac, the Sparky’s green chile pilgrimage, carry the top of the list, because he has eaten them all.

What did we get wrong?

This list was decided by people who cook and serve for a living, verified venue by venue, and argued over for weeks, and it’s still just our take. Maybe your smash-burger allegiance runs to a counter we ranked too low. Maybe you think a $150 wagyu Royale has no business losing to a Lafayette griddle. Maybe we missed your favorite entirely. Tell us. The best thing about a ranked list is the fight it starts, so start one. We’ll keep eating, re-checking, and updating this guide as the country keeps cooking. America doesn’t sit still, and neither should its definitive burger guide.