About the Burger Price Index
Share the methodology
How we print the BPI — weighted Fast Food 20% / Casual 40% / Premium 40%. 10 US cities on the tape. Bloomberg Terminal rigor, Wendy's frostiness. Not financial advice. Read the methodology: https://burgerprice.com/about
What is the BPI?
The Burger Price Index (BPI) is a weekly index that tracks the average cost of a burger across US cities. Think of it as the Consumer Price Index, but exclusively for the most important food group: burgers.
We currently track 10 cities: Austin, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle. Don't see yours? Request it on the cities page— cities with 25+ requests get added to the index.
Methodology
Each week, we survey burger prices from 10-15 restaurants per city across three segments:
- Fast Food (20% weight): Chain restaurants like McDonald's, Five Guys, Shake Shack, Wendy's
- Casual/Diner (40% weight): Local spots, diners, and casual burger joints
- Premium/Gourmet (40% weight): Upscale restaurants with gourmet burger offerings
The BPI is a weighted average of these segments. We weight casual and premium more heavily because they reflect the local dining economy, while fast-food prices are largely set nationally.
Same-Store Check
A city's headline week-over-week move compares this week's basket to last week's. The basket rotates, so part of any move can come from which restaurants were sampled rather than from menu prices.
The same-store check isolates the menu-board part. We match restaurants that appear on both weeks' tape, take each one's price change, and average them. Then we compare that number to the headline:
- Real move: same-store lands within 5 percentage points of the headline. Prices actually moved.
- Basket mix: the gap is 5 points or more. The sample moved more than the menus did.
- New basket: no restaurant carried over, so there's no same-store read that week.
You'll see the read on the Same-Store Board, in Biggest Movers, in each newsletter's tape, and in the restaurant-by-restaurant table on every city page.
Data Sources
Prices are collected from restaurant menus, delivery platforms (DoorDash, UberEats), and restaurant websites. We use AI-assisted research to compile and verify prices weekly, with human review for accuracy.
Outlier filtering removes any prices below $1 or above $50 to prevent data quality issues.
Want the raw tape? Download the full BPI history as CSV (or JSON): one row per city per week, free to use under CC BY 4.0 with credit to burgerprice.com.
Why Burgers?
The burger is America's economic barometer. Every city has them, every price point is represented, and they're sensitive to beef costs, labor markets, real estate, and consumer sentiment. Plus, tracking burger prices is objectively more fun than tracking treasury yields.
Disclaimer
The Burger Price Index is for entertainment and informational purposes only. It is not financial advice, investment guidance, or a substitute for actually going out and eating a burger. Past burger performance is not indicative of future burger results. Eat responsibly.
Methodology FAQ
How often does the BPI update?+
Weekly. After each collection run clears, we reprint city scores, week-over-week changes, and the national average. The health endpoint’s latest_week is the Monday that labels the print.
What goes into a city’s BPI score?+
A weighted average of burger prices from about 10–15 restaurants per city: Fast Food 20%, Casual/Diner 40%, Premium/Gourmet 40%. Same recipe every week so city ranks stay comparable.
Why weight casual and premium more than fast food?+
National chains often set menu prices from HQ. Local diners and gourmet spots move with rent, labor, and beef — so we lean the index toward the local dining economy.
Where do the prices come from?+
Restaurant menus, delivery platforms (DoorDash, Uber Eats), and restaurant websites. AI-assisted research compiles the week’s sample; humans review for accuracy before it hits the tape.
What gets filtered out?+
Outliers below $1 or above $50. That keeps kids’-menu oddities and tasting-menu curiosities from warping the index.
What does “Basket mix” vs “Real move” mean?+
Each week we also run a same-store check: only restaurants priced on both weeks’ tape, matched by name, averaged per spot. If that same-store average lands within 5 percentage points of the city’s headline week-over-week move, we call it a Real move. If the gap is 5 points or more, the headline mostly came from which spots were sampled, so we tag it Basket mix. New basket means no spot carried over, so there is nothing to compare.
Why can a city’s headline move differ from same-store?+
The sample rotates. When a pricier gourmet spot joins the tape or a cheap diner rolls off, the headline BPI can jump even if no menu board changed. Same-store strips that out and shows what restaurants that stayed actually charged.
How is the national average calculated?+
Simple average of each city’s BPI for that week — equal weight per city with data, not population-weighted. City count can vary if a market is still collecting.
What counts as a burger?+
A standard single burger entrée as listed on the menu (or the closest equivalent). Combos, sides, and tax/delivery fees stay out of the score so cities stay apples-to-apples.
Is this financial advice?+
No. BPI is entertainment and information — not investment guidance. Past burger performance is not indicative of future burger results. Eat responsibly.
Prefer the tape? Weekly rankings · All cities.