THESE ARE THE MCDONALD’S CITIES WITH THE MOST—AND LEAST—RELIABLE ICE CREAM MACHINES

“I’m lovin’ it” may be one of the most recognizable slogans on earth, but a new analysis suggests there’s another phrase that represents McDonald’s just as well depending on where you live: The ice cream machine’s broken.

Too often, McFlurry plans have been ruined by equipment issues. The experience is so common that a tech-savvy fan created a website to track which McDonald’s locations have broken ice cream machines at any given moment. Now, analysts at The Action Network have compiled nearly six years of that data to identify the cities where customers have the best and worst odds of actually getting a frozen treat.

Nationwide, McDonald’s ice cream machines are reportedly broken about 10.4 percent of the time. But according to The Action Network’s analysis, your odds can vary dramatically depending on where you live.

The Most Reliable Ice Cream Machines

Of all the places included in the analysis, Ashland, Kentucky, has the most consistently working McDonald’s ice cream machines. Customers there have only a 2.1 percent chance of running into broken equipment across the five locations studied.

Several other cities also had impressively reliable odds. Yakima, Washington, and Germantown, Maryland, each had a 2.8 percent probability of ice cream machine issues. At the state level, The Action Network found that Minnesota had the fewest breakdowns overall, with machines down 11.5 percent of the time.

The Least Reliable Ice Cream Machines

On the other end of the McFlurry spectrum is Cleveland, Tennessee, which The Action Network named “the broken-machine capital of America.” The odds of missing out on McDonald’s ice cream there are 46.9 percent, which is a complete toss-up

The 15 least reliable cities all had at least a 33 percent chance of ice cream machine malfunctions. Georgia appeared most often on that list, with four cities among the least reliable.

Mississippi had the worst odds overall at the state level, with machines reportedly down 34 percent of the time. The Action Network also noted that seven of the 10 least reliable states are in the South, so if you’re determined to get a McFlurry, your chances may be better farther north.

Some cities are clearly giving customers a better shot at dessert than others. If you want to look up the odds in your own city, check out the study here.

2026-07-15T17:39:00Z