USA Today APIusatoday.com ↗
Access per-capita hot dog and hamburger consumption data for all 50 U.S. states, including restaurant sales per resident and population figures via one endpoint.
What is the USA Today API?
The USA Today Hot Dog and Hamburger Consumption API exposes a single endpoint, get_hot_dog_consumption_by_state, that returns 50 state-level records covering estimated annual per-capita consumption of hamburgers and hot dogs, total burger and hot dog restaurant sales per resident, and state population. Each record includes a rank so states can be compared by total sales per resident from highest to lowest.
No input parameters required.
curl -X GET 'https://api.parse.bot/scraper/765d9a3e-0424-4391-bf47-79e152b9ea72/get_hot_dog_consumption_by_state' \ -H 'X-API-Key: $PARSE_API_KEY'
Typed, relational, agent-ready
A generated client with real types, enums, and the links between objects — the structure a flat JSON response can't carry. Autocompletes in your editor and reads cleanly to coding agents.
- Fully typed · autocompletes
- Objects link to objects
- Typed errors & pagination
Typed Python client. Set up the SDK in your uv project, then pull this API’s typed client:
uv add parse-sdk uv run parse init uv run parse add --marketplace usatoday-com-api
uv run parse add --marketplace pulls a pinned snapshot of this canonical API — it won’t change underneath you. To customize it, subscribe and swap to your own copy.
"""Walkthrough: USA Today hot dog & hamburger consumption data by U.S. state."""
from parse_apis.usatoday_com_api import USATodayHotDogs, ParseError
client = USATodayHotDogs()
# Show the top 5 states by total restaurant sales per resident.
try:
for state in client.states.list(limit=5):
print(
f"#{state.rank} {state.state}: "
f"${state.total_sales_per_resident}/resident, "
f"{state.hot_dogs_per_capita} hot dogs/capita ({state.hot_dogs_ranking}), "
f"{state.hamburgers_per_capita} hamburgers/capita ({state.hamburgers_ranking})"
)
except ParseError as e:
print(f"Failed to fetch state data: {e}")
# Drill into the single highest-ranked state for full detail.
top = client.states.list(limit=1).first()
if top is not None:
print(
f"\nTop state: {top.state} "
f"(pop. {top.population:,}, {top.population_year})"
)
print(f" Image: {top.image_url}")
print(f" Credit: {top.image_credit}")
print("\nexercised: states.list")
Returns hot dog and hamburger consumption data for all 50 U.S. states, ranked by total sales per resident at burger and hot dog restaurants. Each state entry includes estimated hamburgers and hot dogs eaten per capita annually, total restaurant sales per resident, population, and comparative rankings. Data originates from a 2019 USA Today / 24/7 Wall Street article based on National Hot Dog & Sausage Council data. A single request returns all 50 states in one call.
No input parameters required.
{
"type": "object",
"fields": {
"total": "number of states returned (always 50)",
"states": "array of state consumption objects, sorted by rank (1 = highest total sales per resident)"
},
"sample": {
"data": {
"total": 50,
"states": [
{
"rank": 1,
"state": "Hawaii",
"image_url": "https://www.usatoday.com/gcdn/-mm-/b2b05a4ab25f4fca0316459e1c7404c537a89702/c=0-0-1365-768/local/-/media/2019/06/14/USATODAY/usatsports/imageforentry47-y0g.jpg",
"population": 1427538,
"image_credit": "ademyan / Getty Images",
"population_year": 2017,
"hot_dogs_ranking": "17th lowest",
"hamburgers_ranking": "7th highest",
"hot_dogs_per_capita": 202,
"hamburgers_per_capita": 251,
"total_sales_per_resident": 379
},
{
"rank": 2,
"state": "Kentucky",
"image_url": "https://www.usatoday.com/gcdn/-mm-/b2b05a4ab25f4fca0316459e1c7404c537a89702/c=0-0-1365-768/local/-/media/2019/06/14/USATODAY/usatsports/imageforentry31-zdv.jpg",
"population": 4454189,
"image_credit": "Sean Pavone / Getty Images",
"population_year": 2017,
"hot_dogs_ranking": "16th highest",
"hamburgers_ranking": "22nd highest",
"hot_dogs_per_capita": 240,
"hamburgers_per_capita": 221,
"total_sales_per_resident": 361
}
]
},
"status": "success"
}
}About the USA Today API
What the API Returns
The single endpoint get_hot_dog_consumption_by_state returns an array of 50 state objects derived from a USA Today article on July 4th food consumption habits. The response always includes a total field confirming all 50 states are present, and a states array sorted by rank, where rank 1 represents the state with the highest total restaurant sales per resident at burger and hot dog establishments.
Response Fields per State
Each state object in the states array includes the state name, its rank (1–50), estimated hamburgers eaten per capita annually, estimated hot dogs eaten per capita annually, total restaurant sales per resident (a combined dollar figure for burger and hot dog restaurants), and state population. These figures allow straightforward cross-state comparisons of both consumption volume and spending.
Inputs and Scope
get_hot_dog_consumption_by_state takes no input parameters. Every call returns the full dataset for all 50 states — there is no filtering, pagination, or state-specific querying at the API level. The data reflects a snapshot tied to the original 2019 USA Today article, so figures represent estimates from that publication date rather than a live or annually updated feed.
The USA Today API is a managed, monitored endpoint for usatoday.com — not a raw scraper you maintain. Every endpoint is automatically health-checked on a schedule, and when usatoday.com changes and a check fails, the API is automatically queued for repair and re-verified. It is built to keep working as the site underneath it changes.
This isn't an official usatoday.com API — it's an independent, maintained REST wrapper over public data. Where the source has no official API (or only a limited one), Parse gives you a stable contract over a source that never promised one, and keeps it current. Need a new endpoint or field? You can revise it yourself in plain English and the agent rebuilds it against the live site in minutes — contributing the change back to the shared API is free.
Will this API break when the source site changes?+
Is this an official API from the source site?+
Can I fix or extend this API myself if I need a new endpoint or field?+
What happens if I call an endpoint that has an issue?+
- Visualize a choropleth map of U.S. states colored by hot dog or hamburger consumption per capita.
- Rank states by total burger and hot dog restaurant sales per resident to identify regional demand patterns.
- Correlate state population figures with per-capita consumption data to estimate absolute market size.
- Build a trivia or food-culture web app that surfaces which states consume the most hot dogs annually.
- Generate static datasets for journalism or academic research on regional American food habits.
- Compare restaurant sales per resident across all 50 states in a data dashboard or infographic.
| Tier | Price | Credits/month | Rate limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | 200 | 5 req/min |
| Hobby | $30/mo | 1,000 | 20 req/min |
| Developer | $100/mo | 5,000 | 100 req/min |
| Team | $300/mo | 20,000 | 300 req/min |
| Company | $1,000/mo | 100,000 | 500 req/min |
Each endpoint has a fixed posted price per successful call — most fall between 1 and 10 credits — shown on this API's page before you run it. Exceeding the rate limit returns a 429 response. Authenticate with the X-API-Key header.