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A Big Mac Around the World

Same burger, 54 prices. What a Big Mac costs in dollars around the world is a way into exchange rates, the strong dollar, and what your money is really worth somewhere else.

Interactive · one burger, prices

What does a Big Mac cost around the world?

Same burger everywhere. If money were priced "fairly," it would cost the same in dollars everywhere too. It doesn't.

Price there
Exchange rate
In dollars
United States

All prices, in dollars (tap a dot)
U.S.
$2$5$8$10
places where a Big Mac costs less than in the U.S.
cheapest:
priciest:

Dollar price = local price ÷ local currency per dollar. Source: The Economist, Big Mac index (data CC BY 4.0), edition; exchange rates from Refinitiv Datastream via The Economist. U.S. price from McDonald's.

Interactive · the strong dollar, in burgers

Which currencies look cheap next to the dollar?

Left of the line: a Big Mac costs less there than in the U.S., so by burger logic that currency is undervalued against the dollar. Right of it: overvalued.

Plain: The Economist's raw Big Mac index against the dollar. Adjusted: The Economist's GDP-adjusted index (GDP per person from the IMF), which expects richer countries to pay more; not available for every country. Source: The Economist, Big Mac index (CC BY 4.0), .

Interactive · years of exchange rates

The yen went from pricey to half off

In April 2000 a Big Mac in Japan cost 24% more than in the U.S. In July 2026 it cost half as much. Same burger. The money moved. Pick another currency to see its story.

Line: The Economist's raw Big Mac index against the dollar, every reading (about twice a year). Source: The Economist, Big Mac index (CC BY 4.0).

4 · The other side

The strongest case against reading too much into burgers

"A burger isn't an exchange rate."

  1. A cheap burger can mean cheap labor, not a cheap currency. A Big Mac is mostly local wages and rent. Poorer countries pay less for both, so their burgers will look "undervalued" forever. That's why The Economist also publishes the adjusted version (section 2).
  2. Exchange rates don't follow burgers. Interest rates, trade and money flowing in and out move currencies much faster than prices catch up. Purchasing power parity is a long-run pull, not a forecast.
  3. Even The Economist calls it light-hearted. It started in 1986 as "burgernomics": a teaching tool, not a trading signal.
What the burger still shows

Even after adjusting for how rich each country is, most currencies still look cheap next to the dollar (section 2). The dollar is the world's reserve currency: people everywhere want it, and that demand props up its price. Whether that's strength or privilege depends on which side of the exchange you're on.

Don't trust, verify

Check the math yourself

Pick Japan: a Big Mac costs 500 yen, and one dollar buys about 162 yen. 500 ÷ 162 = $3.08. The U.S. price is $6.22. 3.08 ÷ 6.22 − 1 = −50%: by burger logic the yen is about half price against the dollar. Every row is in The Economist's file: local price, exchange rate, dollar price.

The Economist updates the index twice a year (usually January and July); we update this page when a new edition comes out.

Follow the moneyExchange ratePurchasing powerReserve currencyDevaluationThen vs. now: one Big Mac in the U.S., 2000–2026Big Mac calculator: try your own hourly pay1971: the day the dollar changedWhy does everything cost more?