TI · LIVE
Brooklyn, NY$15.75▲ 16.8%·Manhattan, NY$14.75▲ 9.3%·Santa Monica, CA$14.09▲ 4.4%·White Plains, NY$13.95▲ 3.4%·Washington, DC$13.85▲ 2.7%·Yonkers, NY$13.75▲ 1.9%·San Francisco, CA$13.45▼ 0.3%·Bakersfield, CA$13.45▼ 0.3%·Jersey City, NJ$13.25▼ 1.8%·Oakland, CA$13.00▼ 3.6%·Chicago, IL$12.95▼ 4%·Berkeley, CA$12.95▼ 4%·Newark, NJ$12.95▼ 4%·West Hollywood, CA$12.85▼ 4.7%·Miami, FL$12.75▼ 5.5%·Cambridge, MA$12.55▼ 7%·Indianapolis, IN$12.55▼ 7%·Columbus, OH$12.50▼ 7.3%·Long Beach, CA$12.45▼ 7.7%·Naperville, IL$12.45▼ 7.7%·Atlantic City, NJ$12.45▼ 7.7%·Nashville, TN$12.35▼ 8.5%·Birmingham, AL$12.35▼ 8.5%·Albany, NY$12.35▼ 8.5%·Aurora, IL$12.35▼ 8.5%·Las Vegas, NV$12.35▼ 8.5%·Fort Lauderdale, FL$12.25▼ 9.2%·Buffalo, NY$12.25▼ 9.2%·Bellevue, WA$12.25▼ 9.2%·Trenton, NJ$12.25▼ 9.2%·San Antonio, TX$12.15▼ 9.9%·Detroit, MI$12.15▼ 9.9%·Kansas City, MO$12.15▼ 9.9%·Rochester, NY$12.15▼ 9.9%·Portland, OR$12.15▼ 9.9%·Henderson, NV$12.15▼ 9.9%·Minneapolis, MN$12.15▼ 9.9%·Sacramento, CA$11.95▼ 11.4%·Ann Arbor, MI$11.95▼ 11.4%·St Paul, MN$11.95▼ 11.4%·Reno, NV$11.95▼ 11.4%·Boulder, CO$11.95▼ 11.4%·Seattle, WA$11.90▼ 11.8%·Dallas, TX$11.90▼ 11.8%·Charlotte, NC$11.90▼ 11.8%·San Diego, CA$11.85▼ 12.2%·Madison, WI$11.85▼ 12.2%·St Louis, MO$11.85▼ 12.2%·Scottsdale, AZ$11.85▼ 12.2%·Tacoma, WA$11.85▼ 12.2%·Plano, TX$11.75▼ 12.9%·Richmond, VA$11.75▼ 12.9%·Milwaukee, WI$11.75▼ 12.9%·Anaheim, CA$11.65▼ 13.6%·Riverside, CA$11.65▼ 13.6%·Virginia Beach, VA$11.65▼ 13.6%·Louisville, KY$11.65▼ 13.6%·Grand Rapids, MI$11.65▼ 13.6%·Omaha, NE$11.65▼ 13.6%·Salt Lake City, UT$11.65▼ 13.6%·Eugene, OR$11.65▼ 13.6%·Santa Fe, NM$11.65▼ 13.6%·Wilmington, DE$11.65▼ 13.6%·Frisco, TX$11.65▼ 13.6%·Fresno, CA$11.55▼ 14.4%·Atlanta, GA$11.55▼ 14.4%·Norfolk, VA$11.55▼ 14.4%·Cincinnati, OH$11.55▼ 14.4%·Overland Park, KS$11.55▼ 14.4%·Des Moines, IA$11.55▼ 14.4%·Tempe, AZ$11.55▼ 14.4%·Spokane, WA$11.55▼ 14.4%·Billings, MT$11.55▼ 14.4%·Pittsburgh, PA$11.55▼ 14.4%·Aurora, CO$11.55▼ 14.4%·Boston, MA$11.50▼ 14.8%·Fort Worth, TX$11.45▼ 15.1%·Tampa, FL$11.45▼ 15.1%·Raleigh, NC$11.45▼ 15.1%·Lincoln, NE$11.45▼ 15.1%·Phoenix, AZ$11.45▼ 15.1%·Fort Collins, CO$11.45▼ 15.1%·New Orleans, LA$11.45▼ 15.1%·Knoxville, TN$11.45▼ 15.1%·Huntsville, AL$11.45▼ 15.1%·Allentown, PA$11.45▼ 15.1%·Cleveland, OH$11.40▼ 15.5%·Austin, TX$11.35▼ 15.9%·Durham, NC$11.35▼ 15.9%·Lexington, KY$11.35▼ 15.9%·Iowa City, IA$11.35▼ 15.9%·Mesa, AZ$11.35▼ 15.9%·Memphis, TN$11.35▼ 15.9%·Albuquerque, NM$11.35▼ 15.9%·Harrisburg, PA$11.35▼ 15.9%·Arlington, TX$11.35▼ 15.9%·Glendale, AZ$11.35▼ 15.9%·Los Angeles, CA$11.25▼ 16.6%·Orlando, FL$11.25▼ 16.6%·Savannah, GA$11.25▼ 16.6%·Asheville, NC$11.25▼ 16.6%·Wichita, KS$11.25▼ 16.6%·Tucson, AZ$11.25▼ 16.6%·Provo, UT$11.25▼ 16.6%·Colorado Springs, CO$11.25▼ 16.6%·Chattanooga, TN$11.25▼ 16.6%·Mobile, AL$11.25▼ 16.6%·Little Rock, AR$11.25▼ 16.6%·Oklahoma City, OK$11.25▼ 16.6%·Charleston, WV$11.25▼ 16.6%·Jacksonville, FL$11.15▼ 17.3%·Baton Rouge, LA$11.15▼ 17.3%·Montgomery, AL$11.15▼ 17.3%·Jackson, MS$11.15▼ 17.3%·Hattiesburg, MS$11.15▼ 17.3%·Fayetteville, AR$11.15▼ 17.3%·Tulsa, OK$11.15▼ 17.3%·Boise, ID$11.15▼ 17.3%·Tupelo, MS$11.05▼ 18.1%·Philadelphia, PA$10.95▼ 18.8%·Tallahassee, FL$10.95▼ 18.8%·San Jose, CA$10.75▼ 20.3%·Denver, CO$10.65▼ 21.1%·Houston, TX$10.45▼ 22.5%·El Paso, TX$10.45▼ 22.5%·Brooklyn, NY$15.75▲ 16.8%·Manhattan, NY$14.75▲ 9.3%·Santa Monica, CA$14.09▲ 4.4%·White Plains, NY$13.95▲ 3.4%·Washington, DC$13.85▲ 2.7%·Yonkers, NY$13.75▲ 1.9%·San Francisco, CA$13.45▼ 0.3%·Bakersfield, CA$13.45▼ 0.3%·Jersey City, NJ$13.25▼ 1.8%·Oakland, CA$13.00▼ 3.6%·Chicago, IL$12.95▼ 4%·Berkeley, CA$12.95▼ 4%·Newark, NJ$12.95▼ 4%·West Hollywood, CA$12.85▼ 4.7%·Miami, FL$12.75▼ 5.5%·Cambridge, MA$12.55▼ 7%·Indianapolis, IN$12.55▼ 7%·Columbus, OH$12.50▼ 7.3%·Long Beach, CA$12.45▼ 7.7%·Naperville, IL$12.45▼ 7.7%·Atlantic City, NJ$12.45▼ 7.7%·Nashville, TN$12.35▼ 8.5%·Birmingham, AL$12.35▼ 8.5%·Albany, NY$12.35▼ 8.5%·Aurora, IL$12.35▼ 8.5%·Las Vegas, NV$12.35▼ 8.5%·Fort Lauderdale, FL$12.25▼ 9.2%·Buffalo, NY$12.25▼ 9.2%·Bellevue, WA$12.25▼ 9.2%·Trenton, NJ$12.25▼ 9.2%·San Antonio, TX$12.15▼ 9.9%·Detroit, MI$12.15▼ 9.9%·Kansas City, MO$12.15▼ 9.9%·Rochester, NY$12.15▼ 9.9%·Portland, OR$12.15▼ 9.9%·Henderson, NV$12.15▼ 9.9%·Minneapolis, MN$12.15▼ 9.9%·Sacramento, CA$11.95▼ 11.4%·Ann Arbor, MI$11.95▼ 11.4%·St Paul, MN$11.95▼ 11.4%·Reno, NV$11.95▼ 11.4%·Boulder, CO$11.95▼ 11.4%·Seattle, WA$11.90▼ 11.8%·Dallas, TX$11.90▼ 11.8%·Charlotte, NC$11.90▼ 11.8%·San Diego, CA$11.85▼ 12.2%·Madison, WI$11.85▼ 12.2%·St Louis, MO$11.85▼ 12.2%·Scottsdale, AZ$11.85▼ 12.2%·Tacoma, WA$11.85▼ 12.2%·Plano, TX$11.75▼ 12.9%·Richmond, VA$11.75▼ 12.9%·Milwaukee, WI$11.75▼ 12.9%·Anaheim, CA$11.65▼ 13.6%·Riverside, CA$11.65▼ 13.6%·Virginia Beach, VA$11.65▼ 13.6%·Louisville, KY$11.65▼ 13.6%·Grand Rapids, MI$11.65▼ 13.6%·Omaha, NE$11.65▼ 13.6%·Salt Lake City, UT$11.65▼ 13.6%·Eugene, OR$11.65▼ 13.6%·Santa Fe, NM$11.65▼ 13.6%·Wilmington, DE$11.65▼ 13.6%·Frisco, TX$11.65▼ 13.6%·Fresno, CA$11.55▼ 14.4%·Atlanta, GA$11.55▼ 14.4%·Norfolk, VA$11.55▼ 14.4%·Cincinnati, OH$11.55▼ 14.4%·Overland Park, KS$11.55▼ 14.4%·Des Moines, IA$11.55▼ 14.4%·Tempe, AZ$11.55▼ 14.4%·Spokane, WA$11.55▼ 14.4%·Billings, MT$11.55▼ 14.4%·Pittsburgh, PA$11.55▼ 14.4%·Aurora, CO$11.55▼ 14.4%·Boston, MA$11.50▼ 14.8%·Fort Worth, TX$11.45▼ 15.1%·Tampa, FL$11.45▼ 15.1%·Raleigh, NC$11.45▼ 15.1%·Lincoln, NE$11.45▼ 15.1%·Phoenix, AZ$11.45▼ 15.1%·Fort Collins, CO$11.45▼ 15.1%·New Orleans, LA$11.45▼ 15.1%·Knoxville, TN$11.45▼ 15.1%·Huntsville, AL$11.45▼ 15.1%·Allentown, PA$11.45▼ 15.1%·Cleveland, OH$11.40▼ 15.5%·Austin, TX$11.35▼ 15.9%·Durham, NC$11.35▼ 15.9%·Lexington, KY$11.35▼ 15.9%·Iowa City, IA$11.35▼ 15.9%·Mesa, AZ$11.35▼ 15.9%·Memphis, TN$11.35▼ 15.9%·Albuquerque, NM$11.35▼ 15.9%·Harrisburg, PA$11.35▼ 15.9%·Arlington, TX$11.35▼ 15.9%·Glendale, AZ$11.35▼ 15.9%·Los Angeles, CA$11.25▼ 16.6%·Orlando, FL$11.25▼ 16.6%·Savannah, GA$11.25▼ 16.6%·Asheville, NC$11.25▼ 16.6%·Wichita, KS$11.25▼ 16.6%·Tucson, AZ$11.25▼ 16.6%·Provo, UT$11.25▼ 16.6%·Colorado Springs, CO$11.25▼ 16.6%·Chattanooga, TN$11.25▼ 16.6%·Mobile, AL$11.25▼ 16.6%·Little Rock, AR$11.25▼ 16.6%·Oklahoma City, OK$11.25▼ 16.6%·Charleston, WV$11.25▼ 16.6%·Jacksonville, FL$11.15▼ 17.3%·Baton Rouge, LA$11.15▼ 17.3%·Montgomery, AL$11.15▼ 17.3%·Jackson, MS$11.15▼ 17.3%·Hattiesburg, MS$11.15▼ 17.3%·Fayetteville, AR$11.15▼ 17.3%·Tulsa, OK$11.15▼ 17.3%·Boise, ID$11.15▼ 17.3%·Tupelo, MS$11.05▼ 18.1%·Philadelphia, PA$10.95▼ 18.8%·Tallahassee, FL$10.95▼ 18.8%·San Jose, CA$10.75▼ 20.3%·Denver, CO$10.65▼ 21.1%·Houston, TX$10.45▼ 22.5%·El Paso, TX$10.45▼ 22.5%·
Vol. I · No. 1Tuesday, June 30, 2026Price: One Burrito

Burrito Economics

A people's almanac of American inflation, one tortilla at a time.

0 burritos tracked·204 cities·50 states·Real BLS data
▌Cover Story · Twenty Years on the Tortilla

America's lunch
quietly ran
past inflation.

In 2006 a Chipotle chicken burrito cost $5.30. Twenty years of official CPI says that same burrito should cost $8.54 today. It doesn't. It costs $10.95. That gap — between the burrito and the index meant to measure it — is what this site exists to explain.

READ THE ARGUMENT ▼▶ TWEET
The Gap · 2006 → 2026
What the burrito should cost (CPI)
$5.30
What the burrito actually costs
$5.30
▲ 28% above what inflation predicts

All figures: BLS CPI-U (1982–84 = 100), rebased to 2006. Burrito = Chipotle chicken nat'l average.

§ Figure 2 · The Burrito vs. The Index

Twenty years on the tortilla.

A single Chipotle chicken burrito (solid), plotted against what the same item would cost today if it had merely tracked official CPI (dashed). Hover the chart to read either line at any year.

Burrito actual$10.40
If burrito had tracked CPI$8.54
The gap▲ $1.86 (22%)
$4$6$8$10$12200620102014201820202022202420262006 · $5.30Chipotle IPO. A chicken burrito cost a fiver and a quarter.2008 · $5.65Financial crisis. Steak goes up 30¢.2014 · $6.75Steak/barbacoa hit $9.20 in NYC.
Sources: Chipotle 10-K filings, contemporary press, BLS CPI-U All Items.Hover anywhere on the chart to read both lines at that year.
§ The Argument

Why the burrito has outrun
official inflation by 1.6×.

A Chipotle chicken burrito cost $5.30 in 2006 and $10.95 in 2026. That's a 107% increase over twenty years. Headline CPI is up 61% over the same period.

The gap is not bad luck. It is the inevitable result of two forces that most of CPI ignores.

Thesis One

The burrito is a hand-made object.

Economist William Baumol observed in the 1960s that labor-intensive services (live music, haircuts, classrooms) get more expensive faster than goods, because the labor inside them cannot be automated away. CPI is dominated by goods. The burrito is not a good. It is a tortilla, three scoops, and a person — and the person has had a difficult two decades.

The technical term is Baumol's cost disease. The burrito version: the line cook will not move at twice the speed because the Fed wants him to.

Thesis Two

Half the country raised its wage floor. Half didn't.

The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 since 2009. Texas, Mississippi, and 17 other states stayed there. California's fast-food minimum is now $20.00. That's a 176% gap in the cost of the worker assembling your lunch.

The burrito didn't get more expensive in the abstract. It got more expensive in the states that decided to pay people more. The geography below makes this argument in pixels.

§ Figure 1 · State Minimum Wage vs. Burrito Price (2026)

Where labor is expensive, lunch is expensive.

Each row pairs a state's minimum wage (top, ink) with the average burrito price in that state (bottom, salsa). The correlation is not subtle.

California · Fast-food minimum (AB 1228, 2024)
Min wage
$20.00
Burrito
$13.49
Washington · Statewide minimum, highest in the U.S.
Min wage
$16.66
Burrito
$13.00
New York · NYC; statewide $15.5 elsewhere
Min wage
$16.50
Burrito
$13.95
Illinois · Reached $15 floor in 2025
Min wage
$15.00
Burrito
$12.50
Colorado · Indexed to inflation annually
Min wage
$14.81
Burrito
$12.00
Florida · Phasing to $15 by 2026
Min wage
$13.00
Burrito
$11.50
Ohio · Indexed to CPI
Min wage
$10.70
Burrito
$10.25
Texas · Federal floor
Min wage
$7.25
Burrito
$9.95
Nebraska · Recently raised; lower cost of living
Min wage
$13.50
Burrito
$9.50

California pays its fast-food workers nearly 2.8× the federal minimum and charges about 35% more for the same chain burrito as Texas. Texans, in turn, get a burrito for $2.50 less than New Yorkers.

Nebraska is the surprise — high-ish wage, low-ish prices, low rent. The dollar still buys a real lunch there. Geographic flexibility, it turns out, is the single most expensive ingredient in any modern burrito.

Sources: U.S. Department of Labor (Federal & State Minimum Wage), Chipotle Q1 2026 menu sampling, Toast Restaurant Trends Dec 2025. State burrito prices reflect chain-burrito averages, not full-service Mexican restaurants.
§ Figure 3 · Same Burrito, Different City

The Chipotle Index.

One chain. One chicken burrito. 125 cities. The same item ranges from $10.45 to $15.75. The driver is mostly labor: high-min-wage states pay measurably more for the same foil tube.

Cities sampled125
Median city price$11.65
Avg in $15+ min-wage cities$12.49
Avg in <$15 min-wage cities$11.54
▲ 8% premium where labor is more expensive
Sort:
City
State min wage
Burrito price
Source
Brooklyn
NY
$16.50
$15.75
doordash ↗
Manhattan
NY
$16.50
$14.75
doordash ↗
Santa Monica
CA
$20.00
$14.09
doordash ↗
White Plains
NY
$16.50
$13.95
doordash ↗
Washington
DC
$17.95
$13.85
doordash ↗
Yonkers
NY
$16.50
$13.75
doordash ↗
San Francisco
CA
$20.00
$13.45
doordash ↗
Bakersfield
CA
$20.00
$13.45
doordash ↗
Jersey City
NJ
$15.49
$13.25
doordash ↗
Oakland
CA
$20.00
$13.00
doordash ↗
Chicago
IL
$16.60
$12.95
doordash ↗
Berkeley
CA
$20.00
$12.95
doordash ↗
Newark
NJ
$15.49
$12.95
doordash ↗
West Hollywood
CA
$20.00
$12.85
ubereats ↗
Miami
FL
$13.00
$12.75
doordash ↗
Cambridge
MA
$15.00
$12.55
doordash ↗
Indianapolis
IN
$7.25
$12.55
doordash ↗
Columbus
OH
$10.70
$12.50
doordash ↗
Long Beach
CA
$20.00
$12.45
ubereats ↗
Naperville
IL
$16.60
$12.45
doordash ↗
Atlantic City
NJ
$15.49
$12.45
chipotle-direct ↗
Nashville
TN
$7.25
$12.35
doordash ↗
Birmingham
AL
$7.25
$12.35
doordash ↗
Albany
NY
$15.50
$12.35
chipotle-direct ↗
Aurora
IL
$16.60
$12.35
doordash ↗
Las Vegas
NV
$12.00
$12.35
doordash ↗
Fort Lauderdale
FL
$14.00
$12.25
doordash ↗
Buffalo
NY
$15.50
$12.25
doordash ↗
Bellevue
WA
$20.76
$12.25
doordash ↗
Trenton
NJ
$15.49
$12.25
chipotle-direct ↗
San Antonio
TX
$7.25
$12.15
ubereats ↗
Detroit
MI
$12.48
$12.15
doordash ↗
Kansas City
MO
$13.75
$12.15
doordash ↗
Rochester
NY
$15.50
$12.15
chipotle-direct ↗
Portland
OR
$16.30
$12.15
doordash ↗
Henderson
NV
$12.00
$12.15
chipotle-direct ↗
Minneapolis
MN
$15.97
$12.15
doordash ↗
Sacramento
CA
$20.00
$11.95
doordash ↗
Ann Arbor
MI
$12.48
$11.95
doordash ↗
St Paul
MN
$11.13
$11.95
doordash ↗
Reno
NV
$12.00
$11.95
doordash ↗
Boulder
CO
$18.81
$11.95
doordash ↗
Seattle
WA
$20.76
$11.90
doordash ↗
Dallas
TX
$7.25
$11.90
doordash ↗
Charlotte
NC
$7.25
$11.90
doordash ↗
San Diego
CA
$20.00
$11.85
doordash ↗
Madison
WI
$7.25
$11.85
doordash ↗
St Louis
MO
$13.75
$11.85
doordash ↗
Scottsdale
AZ
$14.70
$11.85
doordash ↗
Tacoma
WA
$16.66
$11.85
chipotle-direct ↗
Plano
TX
$7.25
$11.75
doordash ↗
Richmond
VA
$12.41
$11.75
doordash ↗
Milwaukee
WI
$7.25
$11.75
doordash ↗
Anaheim
CA
$20.00
$11.65
doordash ↗
Riverside
CA
$20.00
$11.65
doordash ↗
Virginia Beach
VA
$12.41
$11.65
doordash ↗
Louisville
KY
$7.25
$11.65
doordash ↗
Grand Rapids
MI
$12.48
$11.65
doordash ↗
Omaha
NE
$13.50
$11.65
doordash ↗
Salt Lake City
UT
$7.25
$11.65
doordash ↗
Eugene
OR
$15.05
$11.65
doordash ↗
Santa Fe
NM
$14.60
$11.65
doordash ↗
Wilmington
DE
$15.00
$11.65
doordash ↗
Frisco
TX
$7.25
$11.65
chipotle-direct ↗
Fresno
CA
$20.00
$11.55
doordash ↗
Atlanta
GA
$7.25
$11.55
doordash ↗
Norfolk
VA
$12.41
$11.55
doordash ↗
Cincinnati
OH
$10.70
$11.55
doordash ↗
Overland Park
KS
$7.25
$11.55
doordash ↗
Des Moines
IA
$7.25
$11.55
doordash ↗
Tempe
AZ
$14.70
$11.55
doordash ↗
Spokane
WA
$16.66
$11.55
doordash ↗
Billings
MT
$10.55
$11.55
doordash ↗
Pittsburgh
PA
$7.25
$11.55
doordash ↗
Aurora
CO
$14.81
$11.55
chipotle-direct ↗
Boston
MA
$15.00
$11.50
doordash ↗
Fort Worth
TX
$7.25
$11.45
doordash ↗
Tampa
FL
$14.00
$11.45
doordash ↗
Raleigh
NC
$7.25
$11.45
doordash ↗
Lincoln
NE
$13.50
$11.45
doordash ↗
Phoenix
AZ
$14.70
$11.45
doordash ↗
Fort Collins
CO
$14.81
$11.45
doordash ↗
New Orleans
LA
$7.25
$11.45
doordash ↗
Knoxville
TN
$7.25
$11.45
doordash ↗
Huntsville
AL
$7.25
$11.45
doordash ↗
Allentown
PA
$7.25
$11.45
doordash ↗
Cleveland
OH
$10.70
$11.40
doordash ↗
Austin
TX
$7.25
$11.35
doordash ↗
Durham
NC
$7.25
$11.35
doordash ↗
Lexington
KY
$7.25
$11.35
doordash ↗
Iowa City
IA
$7.25
$11.35
doordash ↗
Mesa
AZ
$14.70
$11.35
chipotle-direct ↗
Memphis
TN
$7.25
$11.35
doordash ↗
Albuquerque
NM
$12.00
$11.35
doordash ↗
Harrisburg
PA
$7.25
$11.35
doordash ↗
Arlington
TX
$7.25
$11.35
chipotle-direct ↗
Glendale
AZ
$14.70
$11.35
chipotle-direct ↗
Los Angeles
CA
$20.00
$11.25
menu-aggregator ↗
Orlando
FL
$14.00
$11.25
doordash ↗
Savannah
GA
$7.25
$11.25
doordash ↗
Asheville
NC
$7.25
$11.25
chipotle-direct ↗
Wichita
KS
$7.25
$11.25
doordash ↗
Tucson
AZ
$14.70
$11.25
doordash ↗
Provo
UT
$7.25
$11.25
doordash ↗
Colorado Springs
CO
$14.81
$11.25
doordash ↗
Chattanooga
TN
$7.25
$11.25
doordash ↗
Mobile
AL
$7.25
$11.25
doordash ↗
Little Rock
AR
$11.00
$11.25
doordash ↗
Oklahoma City
OK
$7.25
$11.25
doordash ↗
Charleston
WV
$8.75
$11.25
doordash ↗
Jacksonville
FL
$14.00
$11.15
doordash ↗
Baton Rouge
LA
$7.25
$11.15
doordash ↗
Montgomery
AL
$7.25
$11.15
chipotle-direct ↗
Jackson
MS
$7.25
$11.15
chipotle-direct ↗
Hattiesburg
MS
$7.25
$11.15
chipotle-direct ↗
Fayetteville
AR
$11.00
$11.15
doordash ↗
Tulsa
OK
$7.25
$11.15
doordash ↗
Boise
ID
$7.25
$11.15
doordash ↗
Tupelo
MS
$7.25
$11.05
doordash ↗
Philadelphia
PA
$7.25
$10.95
menu-aggregator ↗
Tallahassee
FL
$14.00
$10.95
doordash ↗
San Jose
CA
$20.00
$10.75
doordash ↗
Denver
CO
$18.81
$10.65
menu-aggregator ↗
Houston
TX
$7.25
$10.45
menu-aggregator ↗
El Paso
TX
$7.25
$10.45
chipotle-direct ↗

Most prices are taken from DoorDash or Uber Eats listings for a specific local Chipotle, which carry an approximate 10–13% delivery markup over in-store. Where the walk-in chain menu page surfaces a city-specific price, we used that instead. State minimum wages reflect 2026 floors (California's $20 is the fast-food minimum under AB 1228, not the statewide minimum, which is $16.50).

§ What the Data Actually Says

Five findings,
computed live.

Every stat below is computed from the 931 verified restaurants in our dataset at page load. No hand-picked anecdotes.

Cheapest verified in America
$1.79
Mighty Taco
Buffalo, NY · source ↗
Vegetarian Burrito
Most expensive single burrito on the books
$41.99
El Tepeyac Cafe (Manuel's Asada)
Los Angeles, CA · source ↗
Manuel's Special burrito (asada)
Same chain. Same item. Different city.
A Chipotle chicken burrito is 51% more expensive in Brooklyn than Houston.
Houston, TX
$10.45
$7.25/hr min wage
Brooklyn, NY
$15.75
$16.50/hr min wage
Biggest within-city spread
Los Angeles, CA
$5.75→$41.99

23 verified burritos in this one market, spanning a $36.24 spread. The geographic story is also a within-city story: a few miles can swing the price by 5–7×.

The labor-floor premium
Chipotle in $15+ min-wage cities averages $12.49. In cities under $15: $11.54.

That's a 8% premium on the exact same product, almost entirely traceable to the cost of the person assembling it. This is Baumol's cost disease in pixels.

theme-park$16.83n=3
fancy$16.26n=17
neighborhood$13.01n=699
legend$11.64n=144
chain$11.05n=65
Average price by restaurant type
§ Field Guide · The Concepts

Things this whole project
depends on you understanding.

Four concepts that the rest of the site rests on. Read them once, the chart upstairs and the map downstairs will mean more.

Why hand-made things outrun the index

Baumol's cost disease

In 1966, economist William Baumol noticed that a string quartet takes the same number of musicians to perform Mozart today as in 1800. Productivity in labor-intensive services barely improves — but wages for those workers must rise alongside the rest of the economy, or they leave. Result: a haircut, a classroom seat, a live concert, and a hand-rolled burrito all get more expensive than the index says they should.

The burrito is, structurally, a string quartet.

AB 1228 and the $20 fast-food floor

Why California costs more

On April 1, 2024, California raised the minimum wage for fast-food workers at chains with 60+ locations to $20.00/hr — a 25% single-day increase. Chipotle, Qdoba, Cafe Rio, Baja Fresh, and every other relevant chain raised California menu prices within weeks. The federal minimum wage, meanwhile, has been $7.25 since 2009.

The labor floor is 2.76× higher in California than in Texas. The burrito gap is the downstream of that gap.

As an inflation gauge, anyway

Why burritos beat the Big Mac

The Big Mac Index (The Economist, 1986) compares one product across countries. It's good at currency, less good at domestic inflation — McDonald's prices are held down by ruthless scale and supply contracts.

Burritos are made one at a time, by a person, from ingredients that get sourced locally and rolled fresh. They're more honest. When the burrito moves, something real moved — wages, rent, avocados, beef. The Big Mac just tells you about McDonald's.

Not all foil tubes are the same tube

Regional burrito styles, explained

  • Mission (SF) — Foil-wrapped, rice + beans + protein + salsa + guac, often double-wrapped. Invented at El Faro circa 1961.
  • Cal-Mex (San Diego) — French fries inside. The California burrito. No apologies.
  • Tex-Mex (Texas) — Smothered, often with chili gravy and cheddar. A flatter, browner cousin.
  • Sonoran (Tucson/Phoenix) — Hand-pressed thin flour tortilla. Smaller. Mesquite-grilled. The bowl-of-rice school doesn't apply.
  • Northern New Mexican (Albuquerque/Santa Fe) — Red or green chile, smothered. Often served on a plate with a fork.
  • Breakfast (Austin/LA) — Eggs, potato, bacon, in foil at 6am. A category unto itself.
§ Field Map · 931 Verified Burritos

One country.
931 burritos.

Every dot is one named restaurant with a published, current burrito price. Hover any dot for the details. Filter by tier on the right.
Showing 916 dots
Color scale: <$9 $9–13 $13–17 $17+Dot size scales with price · 50 states
§ Tortilla Pain Index

Where does your city
land on the index?

Type your city. We compute a 0–100 score from every verified burrito in our dataset for that area, calibrated so $5 = 0 and $25 = 100.

try:
§ Featured Restaurants

The most expensive
burritos in America.

Restaurants tracked931
Price verified ≤90 days931
Verified median$12.85

The top eighteen most expensive single-item burritos in our 931-restaurant dataset. Every entry links to its public source — click the badge at the bottom of any card to audit the number.

▸ At the higher end
  1. #01 · Institution
    VERIFIED
    El Tepeyac Cafe (Manuel's Asada)
    Los Angeles, CA
    $41.99Manuel's Special burrito (asada)
    SRC · 2026-05-12
  2. #02 · Institution
    VERIFIED
    El Tepeyac Cafe
    Los Angeles, CA
    $39.99Manuel's Special (5lb burrito)
    SRC · 2026-05-12
  3. #03 · Independent
    VERIFIED
    Geronimo Tequila Bar
    New Haven, CT
    $31.00Five Grilled Shrimp Burrito
    SRC · 2026-05-12
  4. #04 · Independent
    VERIFIED
    Geronimo Tequila Bar
    New Haven, CT
    $28.00Pork Burrito
    SRC · 2026-05-12
  5. #05 · Institution
    VERIFIED
    Cafe Pasqual's
    Santa Fe, NM
    $27.00Chorizo burrito
    SRC Verified · Official menu · 2026-05-12
  6. #06 · Independent
    VERIFIED
    Geronimo Tequila Bar
    New Haven, CT
    $26.00Vegetarian Burrito
    SRC · 2026-05-12
  7. #07 · Institution
    VERIFIED
    Cafe Pasqual's
    Santa Fe, NM
    $26.00Crisped breakfast burrito
    SRC Verified · Official menu · 2026-05-12
  8. #08 · Independent
    VERIFIED
    Tacos Sinaloa (Super)
    Oakland, CA
    $25.00Super burrito (arm-length, feeds 2)
    SRC Verified · Official menu · 2026-05-12
  9. #09 · Independent
    VERIFIED
    Hugo's
    Houston, TX
    $24.00Burrito de Cochinita Pibil
    SRC 3rd-party aggregator · 2026-05-12
  10. #10 · Independent
    VERIFIED
    Don Jose Tequilas
    Providence, RI
    $23.99Burrito de Camarones
    SRC · 2026-05-12
  11. #11 · National chain
    VERIFIED
    Pappasito's Cantina
    Houston, TX
    $22.95Steak Burrito
    SRC 3rd-party aggregator · 2026-05-12
  12. #12 · Independent
    VERIFIED
    Cabo RVC
    Rockville Centre, NY
    $22.84Big Burrito
    SRC · 2026-05-12
  13. #13 · Independent
    VERIFIED
    Tacos Tu Madre (Fried Chicken)
    Los Angeles, CA
    $22.00Fried chicken burrito
    SRC Verified · Official menu · 2026-05-12
  14. #14 · Fine dining
    VERIFIED
    Frontera Grill
    Chicago, IL
    $22.00Burrito de Pancita
    Rick Bayless, Michelin Guide.
    SRC · 2026-05-12
  15. #15 · Independent
    VERIFIED
    De Mole Sunnyside (Shrimp)
    Queens, NY
    $22.00Shrimp Burrito
    SRC Verified · Official menu · 2026-05-12
  16. #16 · Institution
    VERIFIED
    Tres Hermanas
    Sacramento, CA
    $21.99Deep-fried chimichanga burrito
    SRC Verified · Toast online ordering · 2026-05-12
  17. #17 · Independent
    VERIFIED
    Señor Sisig (Mission Sisig)
    San Francisco, CA
    $21.46Mission sisig burrito
    SRC · 2026-05-12
  18. #18 · Independent
    VERIFIED
    Don Burrito
    Miami, FL
    $21.45Shredded Chicken Burrito w/ Mole
    SRC Verified · Yelp menu · 2026-05-12
▸ Still under eleven dollars

Restaurants still selling a real burrito for under $11.

These are not loss-leaders. They are independent, hand-pressed-tortilla operations that have, for whatever reason, not joined the rest of the curve.

§ A National-Average Burrito ($10.95) Equals
3.17⛽
gallons of gas.
U.S. avg ~$3.45/gal.
Auto-rotating · hover to pause · all numbers calibrated to a $10.95 burrito · sources: BLS, EIA, DOL
§ Interactive

The Time Machine.

Drag the year. See what your money used to buy — and what it doesn't anymore.

2006when a burrito cost $5.30
200620162026
If burrito had tracked CPI
$8.54
Inflation-adjusted "fair price" in 2026
Actual 2026 nat'l avg
$10.40
▲ 22% above CPI prediction
And in Orinda, California, May 2026...
$25.00
▲ 193% above what a 2006 burrito should cost today
What else $5.30 bought in 2006 → today
🌯Chipotle Chicken Burritoburritos
1.0 in 2006→0.5 in 2026
⛽Gallon of Gasgallons
2.0 in 2006→1.5 in 2026
🥚Dozen Eggsdozens
3.4 in 2006→1.1 in 2026
🥛Gallon of Milkgallons
1.8 in 2006→1.3 in 2026
🍔Big Macburgers
1.7 in 2006→0.9 in 2026
💵Federal Min. Wagehours
1.0 in 2006→0.7 in 2026
Source: BLS, EIA, Census ACS, NATO, Economist Big Mac Index
§ Manifesto

Why a Burrito Index.

Economists track a basket of roughly 80,000 items to measure inflation. This site tracks one of them, in detail: the burrito. It is, on its face, a silly choice. It is also a genuinely good one.

A burrito sits at the intersection of nearly every input that makes American lunch expensive — the tortilla (wheat, corn), the protein (beef, chicken, pork), the avocado (Michoacán), the labor (a person, in front of you, by hand), the rent (a storefront, often urban), and increasingly the platform fee (DoorDash or Uber, 18–30%). When the burrito gets more expensive, it is rarely about the burrito.

Since 2006, when Chipotle went public selling a chicken burrito for $5.30, that same item has risen to $10.95 — a 107% increase. The Consumer Price Index over the same window: 61%. The gap is wide enough to matter and stable enough to study.

We call it burritonomics. It is, more usefully, a tractable lens on Baumol's cost disease, minimum wage policy, the geography of supply chains, and the slow upmarket migration of fast food. Every named restaurant in our dataset links to a verifiable public source. Every chart cites a BLS series. The methodology section at the bottom of the page shows our work.

We will publish a refreshed index monthly. If you spot a verifiable burrito price we should add — chain or independent, anywhere in the country — submit it on the right. Include the restaurant's website. We'll do the rest.

— The Editors, est. May 2026

Field Report · Submit a Sighting
Saw a wild burrito?

We need more data points. Tell us what you paid, where, and for what.

✉ Email to Editors
§ Marginalia

Stuff We Couldn't Stop Thinking About.

+107%

Chipotle chicken burrito price increase since 2006. CPI over the same period: +61%. The burrito has lapped headline inflation by a factor of nearly two.

2.76×

the gap between California's $20.00 fast-food minimum wage and the federal $7.25 floor. The states that decided to pay people more have the more expensive burritos.

60%

of Chipotle's core customers earn $100K+, per CEO Scott Boatwright (Feb 2026). Fast-casual is no longer particularly casual.

$0.99

the average upcharge for guacamole in 2006. In 2026, it's roughly $2.85 — an 188% increase, almost entirely driven by the Michoacán supply chain.

26%

premium Washington, D.C. pays for guacamole versus Nebraska. The geography of the avocado is its own inflation story.

3,578

Chipotle locations operating in the U.S. as of 2026 — up from roughly 580 at IPO.

+21.9%

egg prices rose in 2025 thanks to avian flu, per BLS. Breakfast burritos took the punch directly.

1961

the year the Mission burrito was allegedly invented at El Faro, S.F. It cost approximately one quarter.

§ Methodology

How we built this index.

Every line on this site is meant to be checkable. This section shows our work.

Last full refresh2026-05-12
Restaurants tracked931
Verified ≤ 90 days931
Refresh cadenceMonthly

What we mean by 'a burrito'

The unit of analysis is the signature single-item burrito on a restaurant's menu — the one most representative of how that place actually sells lunch. For a chain like Chipotle, that's a chicken burrito with the standard fillings, no upcharges. For an independent like La Azteca, it's the menu item they're known for (the chile relleno burrito). Tax, tip, and platform fees are excluded. Combos, kids' menus, catering pricing, and limited-time-offer items are excluded.

Where the prices come from

We use a four-tier provenance system, with each restaurant tagged accordingly:
    Official menufetched from the restaurant's own website within the past 90 days.
    Toast / Yelp menuscraped from a major online-ordering surface (still primary, but third-party).
    News / coveragetaken from a recent piece of reporting in a publication of record (Eater, SFGATE, Bloomberg, etc.) — used when a restaurant has no public online menu.
    Unverifiedthe price is widely reported but we have not yet confirmed it from a primary source. We re-check these every month and either promote them up or remove them from the dataset.

The Tortilla Pain Index

The TPI is a deliberately simple linear score: it takes the median verified burrito price for a city, anchors $5 = 0 and $25 = 100, and reports the result on that 0–100 scale. It is not adjusted for cost of living, portion size, or quality. It is meant to be a quick orienting number, not a substitute for the full chart. The five verdict bands ("Affordable", "Market rate", "Above the curve", "Premium tier", "High-cost market") are descriptive, not normative.

The inflation comparison

We use BLS CPI-U All Items (series CUUR0000SA0) and CPI-U Food Away From Home (series CUUR0000SEFV), both at December year-end values, rebased to 2006 = 100. The "what the burrito should cost" calculation is 5.30 × (CPI_today / CPI_2006).

What we will never publish

We do not name a specific restaurant unless its price is on a public surface (their own menu, a Toast ordering page, a Yelp menu listing, or a piece of reporting that names them). We do not call out individual restaurants whose prices we cannot verify. We do not anonymize a price tag and gesture darkly at a specific suburb — we either publish the source or we don't publish the data point.

Submitting corrections

If you spot a wrong price, a closed restaurant, or a great independent we're missing, use the form in the Manifesto section above. Include the restaurant's menu URL. We rebuild the dataset monthly and ship the diff to the public repo at lexhallenberger/the-tortilla-index.