A colleague made an interesting observation recently when he pointed out that fast food prices are now on a par with many fast-casual restaurants. He wondered why anyone would care about fast food anymore when the difference is now only a few dollars.

Fast food used to be a cost-effective alternative to a sit-down dinner for many, but that’s no longer the case. And that goes for almost every fast food restaurant you can imagine. It’s not like we don’t have options in Illinois.

According to TheTakeOut.com, Illinois has 112 fast food restaurants per 100,000 residents. By comparison, Wisconsin has 115, Iowa 108, and Missouri 104.

In Illinois, according to NiceRX.com, Subway is the leader, at least in terms of the total number of stores per 100,000 residents, with 7.8

Dunkin’ follows with 5.5 stores per 100,000 residents. McDonald’s is in third place with 5.2 stores. Rounding out the list for Illinois are:

• Starbucks (4.8)
• Burger King (2.4)
• Taco Bell (2.1)
• Milk Queen (2.0)
• Dominos/Wendy’s (1.6)
• KFC (1,2)

But enough about the fast food restaurants we have to choose from here in Illinois. Now let’s talk about how much money we give them each year.

First of all, we should not fret about the frequency of our visits to fast food restaurants. It is a universal truth that eating at the drive-thru reduces the stress of meal planning, it is reasonably affordable and it is perfectly if you need to eat immediately.

If you need to yell at yourself, maybe you should think about how much you spend at your favorite fast food restaurants over the course of a calendar year.

According to an article on Mashed.com, Alaskans rank first when it comes to annual spending on fast food, with an average of $3,600 per year (or $300 per month).

These results might seem surprising considering other statistics. In terms of population, Alaska ranked 48th in 2022, with about 734,000 residents. In terms of the number of fast-food restaurants, it ranks 44th, with 2.6 outlets per 10,000 residents.

Here in Illinois, we are in the top 10 states that spend the most on fast food, but we rank 7th overall.

Of course, the results depend on how many people you’re buying dinner for. There are five of us in my household, so driving to the drive-thru is significantly more expensive now than it was before we had kids and my mother-in-law could spong off our expense.

In Illinois, we spend nearly $3,000 a year, or $245 a month, on our fast food cravings, according to a study by Mashed.com.

Here are the full top ten along with the amounts spent:

1. Alaska: $300 per month/$3,600 per year
2. New York: $280 per month/$3,360 per year
3. Texas: $275 per month/$3,300 per year
4. Louisiana: $265 per month/$3,180 per year
5. Nevada: $260 per month/$3,120 per year
6. California: $250 per month/$3,000 per year
7. Illinois: $245 per month/$2,940 per year
8. Florida: $240 per month/$2,880 per year
9. Pennsylvania: $230 per month/$2,760 per year
10. Georgia: $225 per month/$2700 per year