Foodborne illness remains a significant public health challenge in the United States, and retail food establishments are associated with a substantial proportion of reported outbreaks. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards (Retail Program Standards) were developed to strengthen retail food regulatory programs through workforce development, risk-based practices, program assessment, and continuous quality improvement. However, national evidence examining the relationship between Standards participation and foodborne outbreak burden has been limited. This study linked FDA Retail Program Standards participation and conformance data with CDC foodborne outbreak surveillance records and U.S. Census population estimates from 2014–2023. A county-level dataset representing approximately 701 U.S. counties and 65% of the national population was developed. Jurisdictions were classified annually based on Retail Program Standards participation and conformance status, and population-adjusted measures of outbreak burden were examined across participation categories. The analysis identified an inverse association between Retail Program Standards engagement and multiple indicators of foodborne outbreak burden. Jurisdictions with active participation generally exhibited lower population-adjusted outbreak and illness burden than jurisdictions that were not enrolled or had not achieved active status. A similar pattern was observed across conformance levels, with stronger program implementation associated with lower outbreak burden. These findings provide descriptive national evidence supporting further investigation of the relationship between retail food regulatory program capacity and food safety outcomes. Additional research incorporating longitudinal analyses and adjustment for potential confounding factors is needed to better understand how regulatory program characteristics may contribute to foodborne illness prevention and public health protection.