Who’s Eating Out? The Best & Worst States for Restaurant Sales

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Despite the economic gloom and doom talk bandied about in the country, the fact of the matter is that people go out to eat.

As it turns out, they go out to eat a lot.

Restaurant choices throughout the U.S. are seemingly endless, from your standard McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) or Burger King (NYSE:BKW) to the middle-of-the-road sit-down restaurants like DineEquity‘s (NYSE:DIN) IHOP and Applebee’s to (with due respect to Guy Fieri) the neighborhood diners, drive-ins and dives.

But restaurants aren’t just a place to feed your face — they’re an enormous source of employment for many across the country. Since we do live in pressing economic times — and jobs are priority one for politicians, pundits and citizens alike — it’s worth taking a look not just at how big dining sales are across the country, but how that goes toward thinning the unemployment line.

So here’s a look at the top 10 states by projected 2012 restaurant sales, according to the National Restaurant Association, as well as how many jobs are created by the industry for every additional $1 million spent downing spirits or victuals:

It can’t surprise anyone that California leads by a wide margin, but by a factor of 2 times? It must be the price of the food. Texas at No. 2 is a disappointment to this native New Yorker, but given the rising population and the state’s reputation for doing everything on the “big,” I’ll grudgingly accept the result. As for Florida, who knew the early-bird specials could be so profitable?

By the way, want to know where they don’t eat out very much? Got that, too. Here’s the bottom five:

Perhaps you are curious about your home state and how it fared in this little exercise. A quick click here will let you navigate through the National Restaurant Association’s information. It’s not quite as handy as a Zagat guide, and the information won’t guarantee a good meal, but it might provide some dining-business bragging rights.

Marc Bastow is an Assistant Editor at InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.