United States Big Mac Index

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justin

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With all this recent talk of cost of living differences between different cities, I thought it might be interesting to compare the cost of a Big Mac (from McDonald's) in your area. I know national restaurants vary their prices by region.

Please state the regular menu price for a big mac and where you are located. Sneak by a drive-thru if you have to in order to find the price! Inquiring minds want to know.

For me, a big mac is $2.49 in Raleigh, NC.
 
That economist index is what got me to thinking. The economist says the US average is $3.15!? That's 27% more than my local big mac! Which means the "expensive" big macs must be a lot more than the average.

Is there really that much of a difference for a seemingly identical product? Anyone in a "high cost of living" area care to opine?
 
I'll have to check our local macdonalds the next time i'm there, but I know that most of the time they'll give you the "two for three dollars" deal if you ask.

Sams clubs and walmarts also index prices based on the local cost of living. I bought some fluorescent light bulbs at a sams in a 'nice' town and returned them at a sams in a not-so-nice town and it wigged them for a few minutes because I paid $8-something for them but in their store they were $5-something. Had to call the other store and figure out how to give me the right rebate.

Oddly, one local walmart is in an absolutely hang-onto-your-wallet part of town and a lot of stuff in that one is more expensive than the one up the street from my house, which is a pretty nice part of town...relatively speaking.
 
Yeah, a Target next to a Walmart will have lower prices than a Target away on its own...
 
I ate at McDonald's yesterday -- for like the first time in five years -- and yet I completely forget how much a Big Mac cost.

I think I have a healthy attitude toward money. ;)
 
Cute Fuzzy Bunny said:
I'll have to check our local macdonalds the next time i'm there, but I know that most of the time they'll give you the "two for three dollars" deal if you ask.
Click to expand...

Really? Wow. I wish I would have known that 1 month into my wife's pregnancy instead of 9 months into it. :D

You just ask for the 2 for 3 dollar special? Is this the unwritten rule nationwide?
 
Ehh, its flakey. Sometimes they have the mac thing, sometimes its two sausage mcmuffins. Sometimes you get someone who does it, sometimes they look at you like you just grew a second head. Ya have to ask, preferably someone who looks like they didnt just start this morning.

They did finally cap off one of the better deals in fast food, the "cheeseburger dressed like a big mac". For 69c they'd take a regular cheeseburger and add the lettuce and special sauce to it. You could get 3-4 of those for the price of a big mac. Now they brought out some "mac junior" or something like that to try to take advantage of what they thought was a new product space...I imagine by now they've discovered the new product space wasnt for someone who couldnt eat two 2oz meat patties, its for someone who is a) cheap and b) a weasel.

Had to stop at the drive thru on the way back from gabes daily visit to the park...$2.69 at the one with no fast food competition in the neighborhood. I'll check the one on the main road tomorrow. Just for good thorough scientific reasons of course.
 
For science. Of course.

I'm thinking about trying a BK Stacker (hey, I have buy one get one free coupons!). Probably the triple stacker is as much as I can do. I love meat, cheese, and bacon. But 4 beef patties, 4 pieces of cheese and 8 pieces of bacon on one bun sounds like too much grease for 1 burger. I'm not sure I'm man enough to try more than a triple stacker...
 
They should just have a guy come out and stab you in the heart.

Heck of a thing to come out with now that all the negative anti fast food stuff's hitting stride.

Anything with eight pieces of bacon on it is okay by me. Even Kathy Bates.

Jack in the box Big Cheeseburger for 99c-1.29 (depending on which one you go to) is still the best fast food value around.
 
Cute Fuzzy Bunny said:
They should just have a guy come out and stab you in the heart.
Click to expand...

Hi, I'd like 2 quad stackers, extra bacon. A large Coke. And an angioplasty on the side, thanks!

Oh yeah, I have a buy one, get one free coupon. For the burgers, not the angioplasty.

Rumor has it the BK stackers have big mac sauce on em. Mmmmm. Anybody know where I can buy big mac sauce?
 
Its thousand island dressing, more or less. We used to make it in the mornings between breakfast and lunch when I worked there as a teenager. Now it comes in caulking tubes...

1 c. Miracle Whip
1/3 c. creamy style French dressing
1/4 c. sweet pickle relish
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. dried minced onion
1/4 tsp. pepper

Mix and let stand overnight.
 
Maybe I should work part time at mcd's and accidentally allow a few tubes of delicious big mac caulk to meander their way into my trunk.

Taco bell at least has the decency to put their sauce within reach of my thieving hands so all I have to do is eat there to acquire their delicious sauce.
 
I wonder how food tax affects the price?

Where I live the tax on take out food is 12.5%.

So that is something to think about when one place has a low price. What is the added tax?
 
IHateCNBC said:
I wonder how food tax affects the price?

Where I live the tax on take out food is 12.5%.

So that is something to think about when one place has a low price. What is the added tax?
Click to expand...

Economic theory says "yes". In practice, I don't know how much people internalize the tax.

Tax here is 8% on restaurant food, 2% on grocery store food, 7% just about everything else. For the purposes of this "poll", taxes might complicate the index.
 
Here is something for you guys.

There was another place that reviewed all sorts of enormuos sandwiches, but I can't find it now.

Also, I think some people have a hobby of cooking with recipes designed to immitate McD's special sauce and other fast food.
 
I got a couple Big Macs a few months ago, but can't remember how much they were. Lately when I'd go into McDonalds I'd just buy a few 99 cent double cheeseburgers and 99 cent McChicken sandwiches. I'm kinda curious though now. I'm also guessing that McDonald's $2.99 value meals have gone the way of the dinosaur? :eek:
 
Ha, funny question. It is almost exactly like a test question I have on my take home midterm for money and banking class.

Except the test question wants me to compare the price of a big mac in yen and reals.
 
More interesting is how much of the average salary it takes to buy the Big Mac. Taxes aside, this will change a lot from NYC to Alabama.

This puts it in more of a perspective (in the local currency; from 2003):
CIN581.gif
 
justin said:
Maybe I should work part time at mcd's and accidentally allow a few tubes of delicious big mac caulk to meander their way into my trunk.

Taco bell at least has the decency to put their sauce within reach of my thieving hands so all I have to do is eat there to acquire their delicious sauce.
Click to expand...

Better be careful...macdonalds corporate will sic some black suits on you.

Seriously though...I once had a somewhat remote customer who supplied macdonalds, and when we pulled into the parking lot and hopped out in our suits, we initiated a scramble at the factory. Apparently macdonalds periodically does surprise inspections of their suppliers, and anyone doing anything out of spec is no longer a supplier...ever.

At least taco bell tells you whats in their food...the "taco maker", a chain I visited in my teens, wouldnt acknowledge or identify the type of meat in their products. After some effort, the manager finally admitted that he had no idea, that it just came in a large can that said 'taco maker meat' on it.

:p
 
ladelfina said:
More interesting is how much of the average salary it takes to buy the Big Mac. Taxes aside, this will change a lot from NYC to Alabama.

This puts it in more of a perspective (in the local currency; from 2003):
Click to expand...

It is misleading to a certain extent. McD's has more style and luxury appeal in many parts of the world. You probably wouldn't see a bunch of lower-class folks gobbling up McD's big macs in a lot of these developing nations, when they could eat at a restaurant next door for 1/10 the price (if they even eat out at all!).
 
ladelfina said:
More interesting is how much of the average salary it takes to buy the Big Mac. Taxes aside, this will change a lot from NYC to Alabama.
Click to expand...

I believe that was the original intent of the Big Mac Index.

Thanks for perking my memory.   :smitten:
 
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