Toppings may change, but the basic ingredients of a hamburger — and more importantly, each fast-food giant's special recipe — stay relatively constant over time. New menu items may come and go — but once a chain feels like the public loves a menu staple, they rarely change it.
Fast-food hamburgers seemingly haven't changed over the last few decades, but their prices have. We rounded up the cost of several fast-food burgers the year you were born to see just how much has changed.
First, a note about relative burger sizes.
INSIDER compared each chain's most basic burger offerings to one another.
A McDonald's hamburger in 1955 — when the company started — weighed 3.7 ounces, according to BuzzFeed.
The chain's iconic Big Mac — which prompted the Economist to begin publishing its Big Mac Index as an international indicator of comparative individual purchasing power in 1986 — wasn't introduced until 1967. The Quarter Pounder didn't exist until 1971.
By contrast, Burger King's Whopper has been around since 1957 — and the patty was a 1/4 lb. weight, according to Politico. There are 16 oz. in a pound, so to keep a level playing field, that's 4 oz.
If you've never had one, White Castle burgers are also called sliders for several reasons — not the least of which is that they're tiny.
Weighing in at just 1/8 lb. per patty, they're about half the size of their competitors — but they've been around since 1921, and the chain is arguably the first fast-food chain in the US.
Like anything else, the prices for these competing products have varied by region since the beginning — so all prices below are approximate, and will vary based on your geographic location. And, some burger prices were not readily available. Keep in mind that Wendy's didn't join the competition until 1969 — but their single patties have always weighed 4 ounces.
Based on the sources available, here are approximate dollar amounts that fast-food burgers cost in the US the year you were born.
In 1960, your burger cost an average of just $0.21.
Price at McDonald's: $0.15
Price at Burger King: $0.37
Price at White Castle: $0.12
$0.21 in 1960 is equal to about $1.81 in August 2018, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index inflation calculator.
In 1967, your burger cost an average of $0.22.
Price at McDonald's: $0.15
Price at White Castle: $0.14
Adjusted for inflation, the average $0.22 burger would cost approximately $1.69 in August 2018.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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