Nothing says summer quite like a road trip. And no road trip would be complete without a stop at a gas station to fuel up along the way. Fortunately for Americans hitting the road, there’s a wide selection of gas stations available to meet your traveling needs, two of which in the Mid-Atlantic region are Sheetz and Wawa. But what sets these two gas station giants apart? CivicScience data sheds light on these consumers and their preferences
Where do you stand? Wawa or Sheetz?
As of July 2025, 14% of Americans have visited a Sheetz, and 16% have visited a Wawa this year. While Sheetz fans are split evenly among men and women, 54% of Wawa fans are male, indicating a slight demographic difference among those stopping to fill up.
However, that is just the beginning of the differences between fans of these two gas station chains. Notably, if given $100, Sheetz fans are more likely to put that money towards a vacation than Wawa fans. This cost-saving measure could mean that they value travel more.
As the data show, Sheetz fans are more than twice as likely as Wawa fans to visit national parks a few times a week–so any extra money they can put aside for vacations seems likely to be used up. Additionally, while 20% of Sheetz customers say they spend 2+ hours in the car each day, just 10% of Wawa fans say the same–a striking difference that likely impacts the number of trips made to gas stations as well.
While gas stations are a necessity for anyone out on the open road, not all gas stations aim to serve the same clientele–a fact that’s crucial to keep in mind when your tank starts running on empty.
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This article’s data comes solely from CivicScience’s database, which contains nearly 700,000 poll questions and 5 billion consumer insights.