Big Mac Index
As Bitcoin's price increases, the number of satoshis needed to buy a Big Mac decreases. This chart overlays the USD price of a Big Mac (left axis, linear) with its cost in satoshis (right axis, log scale) to show that relationship over time.
Latest Big Mac Price: $5.79
Satoshis per Big Mac: 8,597
What The Index Is
The Economist invented the Big Mac index in 1986 as an informal way to compare purchasing power between countries through purchasing power parity (PPP). The trick is the product: a Big Mac is close to identical everywhere — same ingredients, same size — and it is made locally, at local cost. That makes it a basket of one item that still prices labour, rent, beef, wheat and energy in a single number.
Why It Is On A Bitcoin Site
Pricing the same hamburger in satoshis shows purchasing power without routing it through a fiat currency. The left axis is the price in USD, on a linear scale, and it moves in steps because the number only changes when The Economist republishes the survey. The right axis is the cost in satoshis, on a logarithmic scale, because it has fallen by orders of magnitude — from 7,060,000,000 sats on July 17, 2010 to 8,597 sats on April 2, 2026. A linear axis would flatten almost six orders of magnitude into the floor.
Where The Data Comes From
The series is public/datasets/satsukashii/prices.json,
derived from The Economist's published
big-mac-source-data-v2.csv dataset and generated by the Go
service in ../satsukashii/.
As of April 2, 2026: 5,736 daily rows starting July 17, 2010. The satoshi column moves every day because the Bitcoin price does; the USD column carries only 21 distinct values over that whole span, and the current one ($5.79) has stood since January 1, 2025.
What It Is Not
The Big Mac index is a serious joke. The Economist built it as a light-hearted illustration of PPP, not as an economic instrument, and it ignores differences in margin, tax, local labour cost and the chain's own market power in each country. It is not a measure of inflation, and the USD line here is one country's menu price, not a price level.