Price evolution of Big Mac in the United States

1. Relevance of the price of Big Mac
2. Price evolution of Big Mac
   1. Absolute price of Big Mac per year
   2. Inflation adjusted price of Big Mac per year
3. Conclusion
4. FAQs about Big Mac's price in the the United States
5. Price evolution table and full chart

Before moving on, it is also important to highight dat our data set of prices for Big Mac has some gaps. From the 57 year period we will be looking at between 1966 and 2023 there are 30 years we do not have data for. These years are 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999. So please keep that in mind moving forward.

Price evolution of Big Mac

The average price of Big Mac between 1966 and 2023 was $4.63, with the lowest price being $0.45 in 1966 and the highest $6.37 in 2019 (at least within the timeframe we have data for).

Absolute price of Big Mac per year

Our data source for this article was: AXIOS .

The absolute price of Big Mac in the the United States has gone from $0.45 in 1966 to $5.15 in 2023. That's an absolute increase of $4.70, or 1044.44% in a period of 57 years. (go to the next section for inflation-adjusted values).

This increment has not been linear though. During this period of 57 years the price of Big Mac actually decreased year over year 11 times, in 1967, 1973, 1981, 1991, 2001, 2002, 2010, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023.

The biggest absolute price decrease in the price of Big Mac was in 1991, when the price dropped by $-2.45, or -100%. The biggest price increase was $0.42, or 8.84% in 2011.

With the price increasing most years, it comes as no surprise that the price of Big Mac today is higher than what it used to be some years ago.

Inflation-adjusted price of Big Mac per year

As accurate as the information above might be, it can also be somehow deceiving. This is because the value of money changes over time, usually decreasing. That means that $1 of today's money cannot buy as much as $1 in the past. This phenomenon is called inflation, and can make it complicated to compare historical pricing data. Luckily, we can adjust for it and calculate what a dollar value of the past would be equal to in today's money.

So let's not take a look at the evolution of the price of Big Mac in the the United States, in that same 57 years period between 1966 and 2023, but adjusting prices to inflation (aka. in today's money).

When we adjust for inflation, we see that the price of Big Mac also peaked in 2019, when it cost $7.81 (in today's money), and was at its lowest in 1966 when it sold for $4.40.

The biggest drop in adjusted price happened in 1981, when the inflation-adjusted price dropped by $-6.79 (-100%). Even when adjusting for inflation, the biggest price increase of Big Mac was still in 2011. However, the $0.42 jump actually felt like $0.48 to the consumer due, to the effect of inflation.

The average price of Big Mac during this period of time, adjusting for inflation, has been $7.01, and the most current price of $5.15 is 26.53% below that average. Enjoy it while it lasts!

Conclusion

While the price of Big Mac has increased by $4.70 (1044.44%) since 1966, it has actually been selling for cheaper during the last decade, with a drop of $-0.30 ($-5.50%) since 2013.

Now, as we've explained earlier, the absolute price of a product does not necessarily represent its affordability fairly. For that we have to look at its inflation adjusted price, or in other words, the price evolution in today's money.

When we look at the inflation-adjusted price of Big Mac, we see that it has varied ± 55.69% over this period of time, and is currently 26.55% cheaper than the average over these years.

Even when adjusting prices for inflation, Big Mac prices are still higher in 2023 than they were in 1966. And not just a bit more expensive, we are talking about a significant increase no matter how you look at it!

So if there had to be one single take away from this article it would be this: The average person has to make a bigger economic effort to purchase Big Mac today than in the past.

FAQs about the price of Big Mac in the the United States