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Estimationstandard
How many gas stations are there in the US?
How to approach it
Pick a demand-side path: estimate how many fill-ups US drivers need each day, then divide by how many one station can serve.
How a strong answer opens
“I'll estimate from demand: how many fill-ups US drivers need each day, divided by how many fill-ups one station can handle. Just to confirm, you want stations, not pumps?”
Outline of a strong answer
Try answering out loud for a few minutes before you open this.
- Clarify: retail stations, not pumps; today, not a trend
- Start from cars on the road, using a round number such as 250 to 300 million
- Assume roughly one fill-up per car per week, then convert to daily fill-ups
- Estimate fill-ups one station handles per day from pumps, hours and minutes per fill
- Divide demand by station capacity
- Sanity-check with a supply view: stations per town or per highway exit
Where this question usually goes wrong
Confusing stations with pumps, or guessing a total with no structure and no supply-side check.
Learn the method
Top-down and bottom-up in Module 3, Estimation.
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