These states pay the highest prices for McDonald’s — plus, which state gets the best deal
Talk about a Mac attack.
Fast food-loving Alaskans are forking over a beefy 23.93% above the national average for a trip to McDonald’s, according to a sizzling new study.
A supersized portion of the blame can be pinned on The Last Frontier’s remote location and sky-high cost of living, researchers at NetCredit reported.
The arm-and-a-leg upcharge is wholly unequal to Wyoming — residents of The Equality State can count on paying 17.61% below the median for a date with the Golden Arches.
The study, which compared prices in all fifty states using the food delivery and takeout site GrubHub, also found that Massachusetts (21.99%) and Vermont (19.41%) residents were paying near-luxury prices for their quarter pounders and chicken nuggets.
New York falls much further down the list, paying 11.39% above the average for a burger.
Besides Mickey D’s, researchers spied on prices for Pizza Hut, Subway, Burger King, KFC, Popeyes and Taco Bell.
To decide the various rankings, they calculated the average national price for takeout from every chain to find every state’s spot on the list.
Alaska paid the biggest premium, overall — 18.17% above the calculated national average, while Texas rides off with the savings, scoring lowest at 9.58% less than the national average.
Fast food free-for-all
- Anchorage (AK) and Honolulu (HI) both pay over 18% more than the calculated national average for takeout food, the toughest break for any U.S. city.
- Hattiesburg (MS) gets the best value takeout food of any U.S. city, at -12.14% below the calculated national average.
- Alaska is the state that pays the biggest premium on takeout food — 18.17% above the calculated national average.
- Texas gets the best deal, paying -9.58% less than the calculated national average for takeout.
The study also broke down averages by city — burger kings on a budget will want to make tracks for Hattiesburg, a small city in southeast Mississippi, where residents pay 12.14% less than the median. Apart from cities in Alaska (Anchorage rang in at 18.29% above), the most expensive in the Lower 48 is Los Angeles, where you can expect to pay 17.93% above average.
Averages aside, the most expensive Big Mac in the United States is found in Lee, Mass. — at the heart of the Bay State’s tony Berkshire region, according to Riley Walz, creator of the Fast Food Index, which monitors burger prices nationwide.
“Prices are ultimately at the discretion of our franchisees and may vary by restaurant,” McDonald’s responded to the revelation in Business Insider, earlier this year.
A reporter for The Post confirmed that the restaurant was currently selling the two all-beef patty treats for a very big $7.29 through the brand’s mobile ordering app.
That’s two bucks and change more than you’ll pay at a restaurant in pricey Midtown Manhattan — $5.99 at the McDonald’s across from the Port Authority, according to the app.
McDonald’s plans to open nearly 9,000 new locations by 2027, according to recent reports.
The once reliably affordable restaurant has been called “no longer worth it” as inflation drives prices nationwide ever higher.
