As many people remain deeply concerned about affordability, food prices have been hitting wallets hard. That is why finding the best value for your fast food budget matters more than ever. A new nationwide study compared fast food burgers and fries by cost per ounce, and the winners might surprise you.

Photo by Katherine Frey/The Washington Post via Getty Images

NetCredit set out to figure out the best value fast food cheeseburger in America. To do so, they focused on single-patty cheeseburgers from the following 14 chains:

A&W

Burger King

Carl’s Jr.

Culver’s

Dairy Queen

Five Guys

In-N-Out

Jack in the Box

McDonald’s

Shake Shack

Smashburger

Sonic

Wendy’s

Whataburger

After the team that conducted the study weighed burger patties and normalized prices across regions of the U.S., they calculated how much each chain charges per ounce of beef. The results, which they shared with Men's Journal, found that Whataburger's classic Whataburger, delivers the best beef value, despite it having a higher price than many other options.

Chain:

Menu Name:

Burger Price ($USD):

Price Per Patty Oz:

Rank:

Whataburger

Whataburger

$5.92

$1.66

#1

McDonald's

Cheeseburger

$2.02

$1.91

#2

Smashburger

All-American Smash

$5.06

$1.96

#3

Burger King

Cheeseburger

$2.52

$1.99

#4

Wendy's

Dave's Single Cheeseburger

$6.07

$2.21

#5

Culver's

Deluxe Single

$4.55

$2.22

#6

Shake Shack

Cheeseburger

$6.88

$2.27

#7

Dairy Queen

Original Cheeseburger

$3.94

$2.38

#8

Carls Jr.

Big Cheeseburger

$5.06

$2.39

#9

Jack in the Box

Jr. Jack Cheeseburger

$3.03

$2.45

#10

Sonic

Sonic Cheeseburger

$6.07

$2.46

#11

In and Out

Cheeseburger

$3.90

$2.91

#12

A&W

Cheeseburger

$4.85

$3.13

#13

Five Guys

Little Cheeseburger

$8.60

$3.59

#14

NetCredit applied the same approach to the medium/regular French fries sold by the same chains, normalizing regional pricing and ranking by cost per ounce. Those results, which were also shared with Men's Journal, surprisingly didn't name any of the most famous chains in the top five.

Chain:

Menu Name:

Fries Price:

Price Per Oz of Fries:

Rank:

Shake Shack

Regular Fries

$2.49

$0.40

#1

Culver's

Medium Fries

$2.62

$0.50

#2

Five Guys

Regular Fries

$6.07

$0.54

#3

In and Out

Regular Fry

$2.18

$0.64

#4

Smashburger

French Fries

$3.33

$0.66

#5

Wendy's

Medium Fries

$3.33

$0.69

#6

Burger King

Medium Fry

$3.44

$0.77

#7

Jack in the Box

Medium Fries

$3.03

$0.81

#8

McDonald's

Medium Fry

$3.54

$0.89

#9

A&W

Medium Fries

$3.74

$0.89

#10

Carls Jr.

Medium Fry

$3.54

$0.92

#11

Whataburger

Medium French Fries

$2.95

$0.99

#12

Dairy Queen

Regular Fry

$4.04

$0.99

#13

Sonic

Medium Groovy Fries

$3.23

$1.27

#14

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Feb 25, 2026, where it first appeared in the Food section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.