Home › Pawn shops by the numbers › Chains vs independents
Pawn chains vs independent pawn shops
4,066 of the 6,288 pawn shops in our directory (64.7%) are independents. The other 2,222 belong to 145 chains, and the 30 chains with 10 or more listed locations account for 1,729 of them. Here is how the two groups compare.
Side by side #
| Chain locations | Independents | |
|---|---|---|
| Listed shops | 2,222 | 4,066 |
| Share of all listed shops | 35.3% | 64.7% |
| Median Google rating | 4.4 | 4.4 |
| Median number of reviews | 148 | 57 |
| Rated 4.5 or higher | 49.6% | 44.6% |
| Open on Sundays | 42.6% | 14.9% |
| Buy gold (review or website proof) | 57.7% | 38.1% |
| Layaway (review or website proof) | 64.9% | 19.2% |
| Jewelry repair (review or website proof) | 29.8% | 13.5% |
Ratings and review counts come from each shop's Google listing. Sunday opening comes from the hours on that listing. Gold buying, layaway and repair count only when a customer review or the shop's own website says so. Chain locations are more often proven by the chain's website alone (for gold, the website is the only proof at 63.3% of chain buyers and 26.2% of independent buyers), so those rows partly reflect how much each kind of shop says online.
Every pawn chain with 10+ listed locations #
Cash America Pawn is the largest, with 630 listed locations in 18 states. We are not affiliated with any chain.
| # | Chain | Locations | States | Median rating | Median reviews | Open Sundays |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cash America Pawn | 630 | 18 | 3.9 | 83 | 37.0% |
| 2 | EZPAWN | 387 | 21 | 4.7 | 375 | 56.6% |
| 3 | First Cash Pawn | 170 | 13 | 3.5 | 58 | 48.2% |
| 4 | Value Pawn & Jewelry | 99 | 3 | 4.8 | 683 | 78.8% |
| 5 | SuperPawn | 53 | 4 | 3.2 | 81 | 79.2% |
| 6 | La Familia Pawn & Jewelry | 31 | 2 | 4.9 | 1,316 | 6.5% |
| 7 | Gem Pawnbrokers | 27 | 1 | 4.9 | 595 | 7.4% |
| 8 | Lev's Pawn Shop | 26 | 3 | 3.7 | 41 | 23.1% |
| 9 | USA Pawn & Jewelry | 23 | 2 | 4.4 | 274 | 100.0% |
| 10 | Pawn1st | 21 | 1 | 4.7 | 614 | 61.9% |
| 11 | National Pawn | 20 | 1 | 4.9 | 2,988 | 0.0% |
| 12 | Valu + Pawn | 18 | 1 | 3.1 | 53 | 83.3% |
| 13 | Queen of Pawns | 17 | 1 | 5.0 | 2,350 | 76.5% |
| 14 | Pawn America | 16 | 2 | 4.9 | 1,306 | 100.0% |
| 15 | Action Pawn | 15 | 1 | 3.7 | 76 | 73.3% |
| 16 | Sunbelt Pawn | 15 | 1 | 5.0 | 1,644 | 0.0% |
| 17 | Capital Pawn | 14 | 3 | 4.9 | 791 | 0.0% |
| 18 | Cash Plus Pawn | 14 | 1 | 4.0 | 98 | 78.6% |
| 19 | Lending Bear | 14 | 3 | 4.9 | 474 | 0.0% |
| 20 | Monte De Piedad® Pawn Shop | 13 | 1 | 4.8 | 113 | 100.0% |
| 21 | Smart Pawn & Jewelry | 12 | 4 | 4.7 | 342 | 50.0% |
| 22 | Amigo Pawn & Jewelry | 11 | 1 | 4.6 | 93 | 100.0% |
| 23 | Bayou Pawn | 11 | 1 | 3.4 | 70 | 100.0% |
| 24 | Complete Cash | 11 | 1 | 4.6 | 31 | 0.0% |
| 25 | Fall River Pawn Brokers | 11 | 2 | 4.3 | 90 | 0.0% |
| 26 | Diamond Banc | 10 | 3 | 4.9 | 680 | 0.0% |
| 27 | Easy $ Cash Pawn & Jewelry | 10 | 1 | 4.9 | 897 | 0.0% |
| 28 | El Bufalo Pawn | 10 | 1 | 4.8 | 116 | 60.0% |
| 29 | Insta-Cash Pawn | 10 | 1 | 4.7 | 175 | 0.0% |
| 30 | Money Man Pawn | 10 | 1 | 3.5 | 58 | 20.0% |
Download: pawn-chains.csv · Browse all pawn chains.
Share of independent pawn shops, by state #
States with at least 20 listed shops, most independent first.
| # | State | Shops | Independent | Chain | Independent share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Virginia | 45 | 45 | 0 | 100.0% |
| 2 | Idaho | 40 | 40 | 0 | 100.0% |
| 3 | New Mexico | 30 | 30 | 0 | 100.0% |
| 4 | Mississippi | 89 | 86 | 3 | 96.6% |
| 5 | Wyoming | 22 | 21 | 1 | 95.5% |
| 6 | Kansas | 50 | 47 | 3 | 94.0% |
| 7 | Montana | 47 | 44 | 3 | 93.6% |
| 8 | Connecticut | 72 | 66 | 6 | 91.7% |
| 9 | Arkansas | 153 | 138 | 15 | 90.2% |
| 10 | Maine | 25 | 22 | 3 | 88.0% |
| 11 | California | 459 | 400 | 59 | 87.1% |
| 12 | Michigan | 113 | 98 | 15 | 86.7% |
| 13 | South Dakota | 22 | 19 | 3 | 86.4% |
| 14 | Oregon | 62 | 52 | 10 | 83.9% |
| 15 | Virginia | 140 | 117 | 23 | 83.6% |
| 16 | Missouri | 114 | 92 | 22 | 80.7% |
| 17 | Alabama | 152 | 122 | 30 | 80.3% |
| 18 | Massachusetts | 47 | 37 | 10 | 78.7% |
| 19 | Kentucky | 136 | 106 | 30 | 77.9% |
| 20 | Pennsylvania | 63 | 49 | 14 | 77.8% |
| 21 | Utah | 61 | 47 | 14 | 77.0% |
| 22 | Georgia | 305 | 230 | 75 | 75.4% |
| 23 | New Jersey | 49 | 36 | 13 | 73.5% |
| 24 | New York | 264 | 189 | 75 | 71.6% |
| 25 | North Carolina | 256 | 183 | 73 | 71.5% |
| 26 | Iowa | 42 | 30 | 12 | 71.4% |
| 27 | Maryland | 79 | 56 | 23 | 70.9% |
| 28 | Illinois | 193 | 135 | 58 | 69.9% |
| 29 | Oklahoma | 136 | 94 | 42 | 69.1% |
| 30 | South Carolina | 100 | 66 | 34 | 66.0% |
| 31 | Wisconsin | 29 | 19 | 10 | 65.5% |
| 32 | Washington | 105 | 67 | 38 | 63.8% |
| 33 | Nebraska | 27 | 17 | 10 | 63.0% |
| 34 | Florida | 661 | 402 | 259 | 60.8% |
| 35 | Tennessee | 164 | 97 | 67 | 59.1% |
| 36 | Louisiana | 115 | 66 | 49 | 57.4% |
| 37 | Ohio | 172 | 98 | 74 | 57.0% |
| 38 | Indiana | 110 | 61 | 49 | 55.5% |
| 39 | Minnesota | 47 | 25 | 22 | 53.2% |
| 40 | Arizona | 149 | 78 | 71 | 52.3% |
| 41 | Colorado | 114 | 59 | 55 | 51.8% |
| 42 | Texas | 1,064 | 292 | 772 | 27.4% |
| 43 | Nevada | 74 | 13 | 61 | 17.6% |
Download: pawn-shops-by-state.csv
How we count
A chain is a shop name that appears at three or more listed locations that share one website; the big national chains always count. Everything else counts as independent, including local groups with one or two shops and unrelated shops that happen to share a common name. Only shops listed in this directory are counted: Google files each one as a pawn shop, and its name, reviews or website confirm it makes pawn loans. Last updated 2026-11-08.