McDonald's in the 80s compared to today

[u/Charming_History7423]

[u/Wookie301]

The burgers tasted better back then too

[u/JorisGeorge → u/Wookie301]

Prices were also more Fastfood Chain worthy.

[u/haberdasherhero → u/[deleted]]

Just using inflation is deceptive.

A big Mac in 1980 costs 33% of what you'd make in an hour at minimum wage.

In 2025 a big mac costs 78% of what you'll make in an hour at minimum wage.

[u/rangebob → u/haberdasherhero]

that's just as deceptive because it's going to be different in every country (or state)

Where I live a big mac costs about 23% of the hourly minimum wage

[u/haberdasherhero → u/rangebob]

Definitely not "just as deceptive". My comparison is far more reflective of the fact that purchasing power has decreased dramatically over the last half a century even though the cost of goods, adjusted for inflation, has not changed much.

Your last statement is more reflective of a statistic called "real personal income" in your specific state, which is wages compared against a bread basket of goods, calculated across each state, and then ranked by purchasing power compared to the median. Some states are far better than average, and it sounds like you are in one of those states.

You are certainly correct in your statement that if we wanted a better comparison, we would have to do an income and expense comparison for every state, both for 1980 and 2025. Which, if you'd like to do, I'd love to see the results at such a fine-grained detail.

You'll find the numbers you get are closer to my comparison than to yours though.

[u/geoooleooo → u/rangebob]

I live on the hood so fast food is dirt cheap. I swear they give us the worse quality foods. When i lived in the burbs McDonald's tasted way better. I can get 2 big macs for 6 bucks but in the burbs they dont do any deals. Same thing for Wendy's burbs dont do biggie bags.

[u/No-Neat2520 → u/haberdasherhero]

It's not deceptive, it's proof wages haven't increased.