ABOUT THE DASHBOARD

This dashboard provides the average cost of a cheeseburger over time, the cost of each ingredient of the cheeseburger over time and the inflation-adjusted cost of a cheeseburger over time, based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The total cost of the cheeseburger is based on 2 oz. (approximately one bun) of bread, 1 oz. (about 28.35 g.), lettuce, 2 oz. (about 56.7 g.) tomato, 1 oz. (approximately one slice) of cheese and 1/4 lb. of ground beef. The data is available starting May 2023 to current month/year.

HOW TO USE IT

The user selects between the three tabs – Cost of a Cheeseburger, Cost of Cheeseburger Ingredients and Inflation-Adjusted Cost of a Cheeseburger. The first tab has two visuals. The first shows the latest cheeseburger ingredients and total cost of a cheeseburger. The second visual explores the cost change over time. The second tab has the latest price in the image on the left and explores the ingredients and total price on the line graph on the right. The third tab has the latest prices on the image on the left and the inflation-adjusted cost of a cheeseburger over time on the right.

VARIABLE DEFINITIONS

Date: Data available from May 2023 to Current Month/Year. 

Cheeseburger components: 2 oz. Bread, 1 oz. Lettuce, 2 oz. Tomato, 1 oz. Cheese, ¼ lb. Ground Beef.

Total cost: The sum of the prices of the cheeseburger ingredients listed above over time.

Inflation-Adjusted Cost: Divide the Total Cost by the CPI ratio using the latest CPI release.

CPI Ratio: A ratio for adjusting inflation. Divide the CPI value in each selected time range by value in the most recent time range (recent being the latest CPI release).

SOURCES

Center for Food Demand Analysis & Sustainability (CFDAS) at Purdue University, and Department of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University

DATA SOURCES

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI data from May 2023 to current month-year (subject to CPI data release and data availability).

DASHBOARD AUTHORS

Annapurni Subramaniam, Caitlinn Brooke Hubbell, and Joseph Balagtas