Every dot is a real restaurant, priced from Taco Bell’s own ordering system. 416 of them, in 50 states.
A Bean Burrito runs $1.99 to $2.99 depending on which Taco Bell you walk into.
That is the range across the middle 80% of the 416 restaurants we priced — 50% apart for the same item at the same chain. Roughly half of that gap happens between restaurants inside the same state, which is why this is a map of restaurants rather than of states.
416restaurants priced
50states covered
$2.44national average, Bean Burrito
50%typical spread, Bean Burrito
Every restaurant, priced
The map opens on how expensive each restaurant is overall. Each one is scored against the national median for every item it sells, across 95 items, and the dot shows the middle of those comparisons — so two restaurants are comparable even when they sell different things. Pick a single item to see just that one.
The cheapest Taco Bell in the sample is Elk City, Oklahoma, about 19% below the national median, and the most expensive is Universal City, California at 75% above. The middle 80% of restaurants sit between 93% and 107% of the median — most are close to it, and a handful are not.
The same drink, priced differently. A Diet Pepsi® is the identical product in every restaurant that sells it, so none of its price gap is explained by the food. Across 404 restaurants it runs $2.49 to $5.49 — 120% between the cheapest and the most expensive, for the same thing.
one dot = one restaurant
The extremes
Two restaurants sit well outside the pack, and both are worth naming rather than averaging away.
Restaurant
Where
Bean Burrito
vs national average
1815 Neuse Blvd
New Bern, North Carolina
$1.69
31% below
100 Universal City Plaza
Universal City, California
$5.79
137% above
The most expensive one is a theme-park location, which is its own kind of finding — but it is one restaurant out of 416, so it does not belong in a headline about what Taco Bell costs.
The cheapest and most expensive restaurants we found
For the Bean Burrito, across all 416 restaurants priced.
Restaurant
City
State
Price
1815 Neuse Blvd
New Bern
North Carolina
$1.69
611 23rd St
Canyon
Texas
$1.79
3013 S. Highway 27
Somerset
Kentucky
$1.89
1113 W. 3rd St.
Elk City
Oklahoma
$1.89
402 Dixieland Rd
Harlingen
Texas
$1.89
· · ·
83-10 Astoria Blvd
East Elmhurst
New York
$3.19
3350 W. Roosevelt Rd
Chicago
Illinois
$3.19
7751 Bonnie View Road
Dallas
Texas
$3.79
178 North Wabash Ave
Chicago
Illinois
$4.09
100 Universal City Plaza
Universal City
California
$5.79
Average by state
State
Average
Restaurants
vs national
Louisiana
$1.94
8
20% below average
Alabama
$1.99
9
18% below average
Wyoming
$1.99
2
18% below average
Hawaii
$1.99
2
18% below average
South Dakota
$1.99
2
18% below average
North Dakota
$1.99
2
18% below average
· · ·
Montana
$2.85
2
17% above average
Connecticut
$2.89
4
18% above average
Alaska
$2.89
2
18% above average
Arizona
$2.97
11
22% above average
Massachusetts
$2.99
5
23% above average
Iowa
$2.99
3
23% above average
States are shown only where we priced at least two restaurants. Because so much of the variation sits inside states rather than between them, a state average is a summary rather than a price you can count on — the map above is the more honest picture.