Many McDonald’s Prices Have Doubled in the Past Decade

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Apr 17, 6:45AM EDT

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Many McDonald’s Prices Have Doubled in the Past Decade — © Mario Tama / Getty Images

One way McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD | MCD Price Prediction) has made money in the past decade is by going beyond increasing its store count. A new study shows that, over the past 10 years, it has raised the prices of some of its most popular menu items at a rate substantially outpacing inflation.

A new study by FinanceBuzz examined menu prices at McDonald’s, Popeyes, Taco Bell, Chipotle, Jimmy John’s, Subway, Starbucks, Taco Bell, Arby’s, and Burger King, along with several smaller fast-food companies, over the past decade. The authors wrote, “The restaurants we evaluated raised prices by 60% on average between 2014 and 2024. That means they’ve raised prices at a rate nearly double the national rate of inflation.”

The rate at which McDonald’s raised prices was three times the pace of inflation over the period. And, in many cases, it doubled the price of menu items. (See which is the most popular fast-food chain in each state.)

Among McDonald’s most popular food and drinks, the price of medium fries rose 138% to $3.97. Another example is the price of a Quarter Pounder with Cheese meal, which rose 122% to $11.99.

What the study does not show is the rate at which prices for ingredients for menu items grew. The consumer price index for the past three years was driven, in some cases, by food prices.

The study does show McDonald’s pricing power. Its revenue has continued to rise over the past decade. And the company has remained profitable.

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.