Red states vs blue states: who pays more for fast food?

Sort the 50 states by who won them in the 2024 presidential election and a clear pattern comes out of the price data — the same items cost more, on average, in blue states. The exceptions in both directions are just as clear, and they are in this story too.

Prices as of November 5, 2026 at 53,289 restaurants across 10 chains — 13,420,895 prices in all. Groups are the 2024 presidential result in each state.

The two averages

The headline averages weight every state equally; weighting by each state's restaurant count instead moves the figures to 0.2% below the national average (red) and 7.3% above the national average (blue) — the gap does not depend on the weighting. 18 of the 20 blue jurisdictions sit above the national typical price; 15 of 31 red states do. Excluding DC, the blue average is 6.4% above the national average — the conclusion is the same.

The exceptions

The averages hide real texture. The second most expensive state in America is red, and two blue states are cheaper than the national typical price.

Most expensive red states

Alaska (20.4% above the national average) trails only Hawaii in the whole country — geography and shipping are the standing explanations for both states at the top of any price ranking. Arizona, second here, is also one of the seven swing states below. Florida and Montana tie at 2.2% above the national average, so both are shown.

Cheapest blue states

New Mexico (0.9% below the national average) and Maine (0.3% below the national average) pay below-typical prices — less than the average red state (0.6% above the national average). At the other end of the red table, Oklahoma (4.8% below the national average), Texas (2.7% below the national average) and Alabama (2.6% below the national average) are the cheapest states in the country of either color.

The swing states

The seven states both campaigns fought hardest over in 2024 all voted for Trump in the end — and on prices they huddle close to the national typical, averaging 1.3% above the national average.

Arizona is the outlier at 5.3% above the national average; North Carolina (1.5% below the national average) and Georgia (0.5% below the national average) sit just below the typical price. A voter in a swing state pays, on average, about what the country pays.

What sits underneath the gap

A state's prices track what it costs to run a restaurant there as much as who governs it, so read the party gap alongside the biggest cost difference between states: the minimum wage. Grouping the same states by wage instead of by party separates the prices just as cleanly.

The two groupings overlap heavily — 19 of the 20 federal-floor states are red, and 18 of the 25 high-wage jurisdictions are blue — but they are not the same grouping, and the exceptions cut against any one-cause story both ways. Florida and Arizona are red states with minimum wages of $12 or more and above-typical prices; New Hampshire is a blue state on the federal floor whose prices (2.6% above the national average) run above typical anyway; Maine and New Mexico are blue, high-wage states with below-typical prices.

Two readings fit these numbers, and this dataset cannot separate them. In one, higher wage floors and operating costs in expensive states are passed through into menu prices. In the other, chains price to what each local market bears — the same sandwich costs more where rents and incomes are higher, whoever runs the statehouse. What the data rules out is a story where party alone sets the price: the cheapest blue state undercuts the average red state, and the second-priciest state in America is red.

Every state, ranked

*The District of Columbia is counted with the blue group, as explained below. Big Mac figures are each state's typical (median) price for the sandwich itself.

• Fast Food Prices by State — the full ranking
• US Big Mac Index
• Restaurant price map