A Big Mac cost 60¢ in the U.S. McDonald’s price list that TIME published in September 1973. Small fries and a milkshake brought the three-item order to $1.14. How far a dollar went depended on what you put on the tray and where you ordered it.
What $1 Bought at McDonald’s in 1973
With a dollar in your pocket, you could get a Big Mac and small fries for 84¢ and walk away with 16¢ in change. If you wanted a shake as well, the regular hamburger made room for it. At the prices TIME listed, a hamburger, small fries and a milkshake came to 79¢.
| Item | Price reported in 1973 |
|---|---|
| Hamburger | 25¢ |
| Cheeseburger | 30¢ |
| Quarter Pounder | 55¢ |
| Big Mac | 60¢ |
| Small French fries | 24¢ |
| Milkshake | 30¢ |
The Big Mac sat near the top of the sandwich prices in the report. Two cheeseburgers cost exactly as much as one Big Mac. A Quarter Pounder was a nickel less than the Big Mac, and adding small fries to it brought the bill to 79¢.
TIME noted that most items in the New York City area cost five cents more than the prices in its list. The order totals above come from adding the items at the prices the magazine printed.
Four Big Mac Prices From the 1970s
The figures below come from different kinds of records, including a magazine price list, an early menu and a travel brochure. Each price is in the local currency of the place listed.
| Year and place | Big Mac price | Price record |
|---|---|---|
| 1973, United States | 60 US cents | TIME price list |
| 1974, Woolwich, London | 45p | Early UK menu |
| 1976, Porirua, New Zealand | 75 NZ cents | First location’s opening price |
| 1979, New York City | 99 US cents | Travel brochure quoted in the press |
Woolwich, London, 1974
The first British McDonald’s opened in Woolwich in 1974. On the early menu reproduced by The Independent, a hamburger was 15p and a cheeseburger was 21p. At 45p, the Big Mac cost as much as three plain hamburgers.
The same 45p could also buy a hamburger, fries and a shake together. The menu included a hot apple pie and a fish sandwich called the McMariner.
Porirua, New Zealand, 1976
A brass band played when New Zealand’s first McDonald’s opened at Cobham Court in Porirua on June 7, 1976. A Big Mac cost 75 New Zealand cents. McDonald’s records a regular hamburger at 30 cents and a cheeseburger at 40 cents on the opening menu.
The opening-day newspaper ad gave customers another way to order. It included a coupon for a free Big Mac with the purchase of one. At the listed opening price, that meant two Big Macs for 75 New Zealand cents with the coupon.
New York City, 1979
A British tour operator used a fast-food order to show travelers what their money could buy in New York. In September 1979, The Washington Post reported that the Cosmos brochure quoted 99¢ for a Big Mac and 36¢ for a Coke. That put the two items at $1.35.
How the 1973 and 1979 Prices Compare After Inflation
The New York price in 1979 was 39¢ above the price that TIME reported in 1973. The annual U.S. Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, or CPI-U, rose from 44.4 in 1973 to 72.6 in 1979. On that basis, 60¢ in 1973 had the purchasing power of about 98¢ in 1979, roughly a penny below the New York price in the brochure.
Using the annual CPI-U of 313.689 for 2024, the 1973 Big Mac comes to $4.24 in 2024 dollars. The $1.14 order of a Big Mac, small fries and a shake comes to about $8.05. The index follows prices across many goods and services, so these figures describe general purchasing power.
How Long Did It Take to Earn a Big Mac?
At the $1.60 hourly federal minimum wage that applied to many covered U.S. workers in 1973, a 60¢ Big Mac took 22½ minutes of gross pay. The fries and shake added just over 20 minutes, bringing the full order to nearly 43 minutes of pay.
At the 1979 federal minimum rate of $2.90 an hour, a covered worker needed about 20½ minutes of gross pay for the 99¢ New York Big Mac. The Big Mac and Coke came to about 28 minutes. To get minutes of gross pay, divide the price by the hourly rate and multiply by 60.
More Prices From the 1970s
Enter another amount and year in the 1970s Inflation Calculator. For a look beyond the counter, see what things cost in the 1970s or try the 70s Price Guessing Game.
Sources
- TIME, “The Burger That Conquered the Country,” September 1973
- The Independent, the 1974 Woolwich menu and its prices
- McDonald’s New Zealand, the 1976 Porirua opening menu and coupon
- The Washington Post, “Lure of America,” September 1979
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, historical CPI-U annual averages
- U.S. Department of Labor, history of federal minimum wage rates
