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Plus Size Store Stats, 2026

We mapped every plus size clothing store in America — 6,551 stores and boutiques with 1,166,885 shopper reviews between them. Here's where the stores actually are, which states have the most plus size retail per resident, and how the national chains split the map with independent boutiques. (Journalists & bloggers: cite freely with a link.)

Which states have the most plus size stores per capita?

Nationally there are about 19.3 plus size clothing stores per million residents. The per-capita crown goes to Mississippi at 44.5 stores per million — 131 stores for a state of 2.9 million people — with Arkansas at 38.5 and Alabama at 38.2 close behind. The average American woman wears a size 16–18, yet in most states dedicated plus size retail is thin on the ground — which is exactly why the per-capita gap between the top and bottom of this table matters if you'd rather try things on than gamble on shipping. At the other end, Hawaii has just 3.5 per million.

#StateStoresPer million people
1 Mississippi 131 44.5
2 Arkansas 119 38.5
3 Alabama 197 38.2
4 North Dakota 25 31.4
5 Louisiana 140 30.4
6 South Dakota 28 30.3
7 Missouri 184 29.5
8 Tennessee 213 29.5
9 Iowa 91 28.1
10 Georgia 312 27.9
11 Oklahoma 114 27.8
12 Indiana 191 27.6
13 Wyoming 16 27.2
14 Ohio 320 26.9
15 Kentucky 118 25.7

By raw count the big states still win — Texas has 568, Florida has 382, California has 364 — but per shopper, Mississippi is the easiest place in America to find a store that carries your size.

Chains vs. boutiques

Of the 6,551 stores in the directory, 3,236 (49%) belong to a national chain and 3,315 are independents and local boutiques — plus size retail is still very much an independents’ game. The biggest brands in the directory: Maurices with 726 locations and Cato Fashions with 723 locations.

#ChainUS locations in directory
1 Maurices 726
2 Cato Fashions 723
3 Rainbow Shops 644
4 Torrid 408
5 Lane Bryant 367
6 DXL Big + Tall 283

Comparing locations of one brand? The chain pages rank every location of each chain by shopper rating — the comparison the chains' own store locators don't give you. Prefer the curated side of the map? Start with the boutiques.

America's densest plus size shopping cities

Plus size stores per 100k residents, cities over 50k population. These aren't the biggest cities — they're the outlet-mall suburbs and mid-size metros where the stores cluster and you can hit five fitting rooms in one afternoon.

#CityStoresPer 100k
1 Greenville, SC 13 17.5
2 Pensacola, FL 9 16.7
3 Southaven, MS 9 15.7
4 Jackson, TN 10 14.4
5 Valdosta, GA 8 14.4
6 Mishawaka, IN 7 13.7
7 Lancaster, PA 8 13.7
8 Youngstown, OH 8 13.5
9 Ocala, FL 9 12.8
10 Bowling Green, KY 10 12.6
11 Dothan, AL 9 12.6
12 Beavercreek, OH 7 12.1
13 Bradenton, FL 7 12
14 Albany, GA 8 12
15 Appleton, WI 9 11.9

What's inside the stores

Of the 6,551 stores in the directory, 4,654 are definitive plus size clothing stores — "plus size clothing store" is what they call themselves — with the rest being boutiques, bridal shops, and big & tall stores whose racks earn them a place here. We deliberately leave out big-box department stores with a token plus rack. From our review and website mining so far (these counts are floors — they require evidence, and enrichment is ongoing):

Stores that…CountShare
Carry plus size bridal & formal1,95130%
Carry men's big & tall92314%
Prove extended sizes (4X+ / 26+) on their own site88213%
Are independent boutiques1,31820%

These attributes are exactly why we badge listings: browse bridal & formal, big & tall, boutiques, and the clothing categories from dresses to swimwear.

Small-town standouts worth the drive

Plus size stores in towns under 30,000 people that still pull hundreds or thousands of reviews — destination shops that outdraw their whole zip code.

  1. David's Bridal Madison Heights MI — Madison Heights, MI ★ 4.7 (6,540 reviews)
  2. David's Bridal Totowa NJ — Totowa, NJ ★ 4.7 (6,007 reviews)
  3. David's Bridal Westwood MA — Westwood, MA ★ 4.8 (5,145 reviews)
  4. David's Bridal Monroeville PA — Monroeville, PA ★ 4.8 (4,665 reviews)
  5. David's Bridal Fairview Heights IL — Fairview Heights, IL ★ 4.8 (4,542 reviews)
  6. Lady Black Tie — Hudson, MA ★ 4.9 (4,216 reviews)
  7. David's Bridal Lake Grove NY — Lake Grove, NY ★ 4.8 (3,868 reviews)
  8. David's Bridal Dayton OH — Miamisburg, OH ★ 4.7 (3,551 reviews)
  9. David's Bridal Slidell LA — Slidell, LA ★ 4.9 (3,318 reviews)
  10. David's Bridal Appleton WI — Grand Chute, WI ★ 4.8 (3,254 reviews)
  11. The Wedding Shoppe Michigan — Berkley, MI ★ 4.9 (3,070 reviews)
  12. David's Bridal Madison MS — Madison, MS ★ 4.8 (2,914 reviews)
  13. David's Bridal Orange CT — Orange, CT ★ 4.8 (2,739 reviews)
  14. The Prom Store — Festus, MO ★ 4.9 (2,595 reviews)
  15. Grayce Bridal & Formal | Portland — South Portland, ME ★ 5 (2,430 reviews)

Methodology: store counts from our continuously maintained national directory (public business listings, filtered to genuine plus size clothing stores and boutiques — no big-box department stores); attribute counts (bridal & formal, big & tall, extended sizes, boutique character) mined from store websites and customer reviews; chain assignment from store names and brand sites; population = US Census 2024 estimates. Per-capita = stores ÷ state population × 1,000,000. Want the dataset for a story? Email us — we're happy to cut the numbers by state or metro, with attribution.