Say goodbye to cheap fast food meals: These are the cities where eating at McDonald’s, Wendy’s or Taco Bell is the most expensive

Americans have for years associated fast food with an affordable quick bite to eat during the workday or meal to which they can treat their families. However, just like other parts of the economy, inflation has been pushing the price of menu items at fast food chains ever higher.

Menu items are anywhere from 39% to 100% more expensive these days thanten years ago according to FinanceBuzz. The rising cost of a meal at McDonald’s, Wendy’s or Taco Bell has been most noticeable in major US cities, where its in the double digits in the 50 largest metro areas.

Cities where eating at a fast food chain is the most expensive

LendingTree, in a recent analysis, looked at the state of hourly pay for fast food workers around the nation in comparison to the cost of the food they serve. On average they need to work more than twice as long to afford a fast food meal as those earning the average wage in the US.

Across the 50 largest metro areas the average cost of a flagship fast food restaurant was $11.56. The most expensive city in which to get a fast food meal was San Francisco, California, costing on average $13.88. Meanwhile, Columbus, Ohio was the cheapest of the major metro areas with a fast food meal costing $10.01 according to the online lending marketplace.

Fast food chains have been seeing a drop in customers walking through their doors and they know it’s because of increasing costs as well as consumers’ uncertainty about what the future has instore for the economy. Several have announced specials to try and lure more of them back this summer reports Eat This, Not That!

For example, Wendy’s is offering customers $1 Dave’s Single with any purchase every Saturday from 7 June through 26 July as part of its 100 Days of Savings campaign. Throughout the month of June, Burger King has an assortment of discounts that customers can take advantage of.

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