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Fast food fans are saving smarter, not farther, with this price-hunting tool.
McDonald’s customers are shocked by the deals they’ve found on the McCheapest map, an interactive food map highlighting the cheapest or most expensive stores by city and state.
Their measurement: the Big Mac price of each location. The map is covered with dots, ranging from green being the cheapest and dark red being most expensive and clicking on each dot shows which specific store the dot represents.
You can also click on each city or state, and their cheapest Big Mac and most expensive will be identified specifically with their address.
Looking at the rising cost of food across the country amid inflation, food research organization Pantry & Larder created this map — and with over 10,000 Mickey D’s locations in the US, investigators had their work cut out for them.
The cheapest Big Mac in America can be found in Stigler, Oklahoma, for $3.49.
The most expensive, in Lee, Massachusetts, costs $8.09.
The map also has an index where you can see what the previous price was, and whether the current price increased or decreased from the last one.
McDonald’s usually offers some good deals, whether it’s their Dollar Menu, their free FIFA World Cup souvenir cups with select orders or their App Exclusive BOGO deals. This map measures unit prices of Big Macs, without any meal deals or offers.
When an X post went viral for calling attention to a McCrispy combo meal costing $18.99 in Darien, Connecticut, people were no longer considering McDonald’s a budget-friendly option. McDonald’s franchises set their own menu prices, so some may choose to hike up specific prices depending on the economic status of customers in the area.
Reddit users started posting their McDonald’s receipts and comparing prices per state.
“When people say McDonald’s is expensive now, I say you’re doing it wrong,” one user wrote, posting his receipt of two double cheeseburgers, large fries and a large Dr. Pepper totaling $6.68.
A user from Spokane, Washington commented that the exact order for them would total $11.65.
“Can’t stack deals at my McDs and a large soft drink is $2.19 and large fries is over 4 f—kin dollars. You aren’t getting this order for under $10, no matter what you poke on the kiosk lol,” commented another frustrated customer.
Since 2015, menu prices at popular fast food chains have risen anywhere between approximately 39% and 100%, according to data from Top Nutrition Coaching.
For McDonald’s specifically, the $11.99 for a Quarter Pounder with Cheese Meal, or $10.99 for a 10-piece Chicken McNuggets meal, is a 122% and 83% increase, respectively, from 2015.
And now you can’t snag a Happy Meal for under $5, which now costs anywhere from $5.09 to $6.93. In 2015, it was only $2.99 to $3.59 for the meal, side of fries, apples, drink and toy combo.
With rising McDonald’s prices, customers are starting to go elsewhere for their burgers. If they are paying high prices anyway, they want better quality.
“I get inflation and all that makes the dollar weaker, but I live in an area with a lot of burger-based competition,” a Reddit user agreed. “If you look at their Quarter-Pounder or Big Mac for $12 and compare it to anything around it, the quality just doesn’t meet the price.”
