Why do McDonald's prices vary from one location to another?

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McDonald’s customers aren’t loving the chain’s location-based price discrepancies.

In a resurfaced viral video, an enraged McDonald’s diner claimed that the fast food franchise is no longer affordable for the everyday American.

“So, I get there’s a labor shortage, I get there’s wage increases and a number of other things,” flabbergasted Idaho man Christopher Olive began in a clip posted to TikTok last year.

“But $16? $16 for a burger, a large fry and a drink? It’s just crazy!” they complained, panning the camera’s lens to his itemized receipt from a McDonald’s restaurant in the city of Post Falls.

Meanwhile, one recent report by the US Sun found a Quarter Pounder with Cheese and Bacon combo meal priced at over $18.

In fact, McDonald’s recently reported an increase in revenue directly influenced by a “strategic” hike in menu prices — but menu prices also vary from location to location.

Lucky for penny-pinching fast foodies, there’s a website that tracks where to get the cheapest Big Mac.

British marketing executive Sacha Fournier created the McCheapest tool, which collects different McD’s price points across America — and as of Wednesday afternoon, the cheapest Big Mac can be found in Stigler, Oklahoma, for $3.49, while the most expensive is going for $8.09 in Lee, Massachusetts.

Another interactive map called the Fast Food Index, created by software engineer Riley Walz, claims that the differences in price across the country are a “solid indicator” of the area’s cost of living — though it doesn’t seem to be the case that more affluent areas have more expensive menu items.

Out of 13,273 McDonald’s locations, the Fast Food Index found that the three least expensive Big Macs were in Oklahoma, while the three most expensive were in New Jersey and Massachusetts — and not within some of the country’s priciest cities.

“Certain neighborhoods in Manhattan are probably the richest neighborhoods in New York City,” Walz told CBC. “But those weren’t necessarily the most expensive stores because people that live in the area might not be the people that are eating at those restaurants all the time.”

Customers are nevertheless frustrated by the seemingly arbitrary price hikes, for good reason.

“In a way, the quintessentially American freedom of going out to restaurants is getting crushed because of the price of things. Even where people thought they could get a bargain, like at McDonald’s, prices are going up,” David Klyman, a financial strategist at Klyman Financial, told HuffPost.

“The price of the items sold at McDonald’s have to do with inflation but also commercial property prices, gas prices, interest rates, car prices, health insurance cost, flight costs since you have to fly foods around the country, and more,” Klyman explained.

Despite regional economic factors such as minimum wage, property taxes, cost of rent and other goods, franchise owners are also free to account for their own price tags, further complicating the metrics of menu disparities.

As noted on the McDonald’s corporate website, “McDonald’s prices vary by location. Ninety percent of McDonald’s restaurants are independently owned and operated by franchisees, who have the ability to set their own prices.”

However, Klyman argued that the success of a top-dollar franchise really comes down to what the consumer is willing to fork over for a basic burger.

“It’s not often about the value of a burger but what people are willing to pay for that burger,” he explained.

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