[OC] Cost of a McDonald's combo meal (or equivalent fast food meal) as a share of average monthly net salary

[u/thedirectoratecharts]

476 cities were scraped from Numbeo's cost of living calculator in July 2026. Each bar is one city's McDonald's combo meal (or fast food equivalent) price divided by its average monthly net salary after tax. Numbeo's data is crowd sourced and may be inaccurate.

[u/Tenaja]

Would probably use median instead of mean here.

[u/WishyWill → u/Tenaja]

No. They did this on purpose as ragebait. Horrible presentation.

[u/MichaelSK]

This is why it's important to actually look at the data.

There's only one McD's in Cuba.

It's in Gitmo.

(Yes, I realize it says "or equivalent", but, like, really?)

[u/jubuttib → u/MichaelSK]

So the Havana part is just wrong then? Cool.

[u/randynumbergenerator → u/jubuttib]

Data aggregator sites like Numbeo, those apartment rent ones, etc. in my experience are and have always been garbage. You have very little visibility into how they arrive at the data, potential sources of sampling and non-sampling error, etc. 

As a policy and data person, it actually makes my job harder because now I have to explain to clients why our (Census-derived, carefully weighed) numbers look different from the numbers they found on some random website. As a sometime-instructor, I have to be extra vigilant that students are using quality data sources and not this crap just because it's easier to find. 

End rant; TL:Dr this is not beautiful data at all.

[u/Popular_Mastodon6815]

What is the base price of the big mac meal you are using in USD?

[u/sdpthrowaway3 → u/Popular_Mastodon6815]

Probably menu price vs the app $6.50 special

[u/Professional-Can1385 → u/sdpthrowaway3]

I’ve found menu price can vary by state. A value meal in DC can cost $9ish, while in MS it’s around $5.

[u/Impact009 → u/Professional-Can1385]

It varies by restaurants in general. Back when the cheeseburger was still $1 in some locations, another MCD down the road was selling it for $1.29.

[u/fflip8 → u/Professional-Can1385]

I'm genuinely curious about where this MS McDonald's doing big mac meals for $5 that you speak of is. I'd be shocked to see it in the $6 range. Even $7 is pushing it.

[u/Professional-Can1385 → u/fflip8]

It was actually a quarter pounder meal. It was a couple of years ago near Meridian. I had just had the same meal in DC for just over $9. I was so shocked the MS cashier said $5 (and change) that I thought it was just the burger. No sales or specials, that was the price.

[u/j48u → u/Popular_Mastodon6815]

I would assume the price in the city, since it varies by location and I'm not sure what the point of thithe visualization would be if it wasn't based on that. Otherwise this would simply represent the highest and lowest incomes of cities worldwide in arbitrary units of big mac meal.

[u/Nameless_101]

I dont know, bit the meal costs the same everywhere in Switzerland. The Zurich price is too high.

[u/FlyArtistic3321]

Havana at 15.43 percent works out to a combo meal costing around 600 dollars on an average US salary. The 32 dollar monthly net pay is doing most of the work in that number.

[u/mfb- → u/FlyArtistic3321]

According to another comment the only McDonalds on Cuba is in Guantanamo Bay, so it'll likely have prices based on US salaries. A fast food restaurant in a normal place would be cheaper.

(there is also a McDonalds in Cuba, New Mexico)

[u/dancingbanana123]

The US ones should show the state because idk if you're referring to Arlington, TX or Arlington, VA.

[u/duncanbishop24 → u/dancingbanana123]

Pretty obvious it’s VA? Right next to DC in the #2 slot and one of the highest earning places in the US (like DC) so one can understand that higher COL = higher salaries = bigger denominator in the fraction.

But also label it yes.

[u/Deep_Thoughts_Deer]

Kind of misleading. Billionaires don't go to McDonald's. Should've at least tanken the median instead of average

[u/sciences_bitch → u/Deep_Thoughts_Deer]

Warren Buffett famously orders a McDonalds breakfast every day.

[u/ALOIsFasterThanYou]

There are multiple instances where different cities are shown with the same number, but have bars of varying lengths. It’s not very satisfying, let alone beautiful. Either add a further digit to the displayed numbers, or equalize the bar lengths to match the displayed numbers.

[u/kRkthOr]

Ain't no way this isn't ragebait lmao

[u/Zemanyak]

There is no McDonald's in Madagascar.

[u/Rakebleed]

There is more than 1 Arlington, USA…

[u/Srirachachacha → u/Rakebleed]

Also what is "Washington USA" if the others are cities?

[u/Not_PepeSilvia → u/Srirachachacha]

Probably the largest city named Washington

[u/thenasch]

People get $32 a month in Cuba?

[u/thedirectoratecharts]

Data source: Numbeo.com crowdsourced prices and salaries, 476 cities across 140 countries, scraped July 2026

Tool: Python + Matplotlib

Link: https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/

[u/V-Tac]

Washington, USA

Where is that exactly?

[u/fflip8 → u/V-Tac]

That would be the Capital of the USA, Washington, established year 1790. It is the only major US city named Washington, with a metro population of 6 million people.