McDonald’s is the country’s biggest restaurant chain. It also has a big impact on the country’s economy.
The Chicago-based fast-food giant contributes $76 billion per year to the U.S. economy, the company said on Tuesday. The company partnered with Oxford Economics to calculate the impact number.
McDonald’s also supported 1.1 million jobs, the company said.
A few other figures the company released:
- McDonald’s contributed $21.5 billion in federal, state and local taxes in 2023;
- The company provided $25.2 million in tuition assistance to some 12,000 employees that year;
- The company and its franchisees also raised $57.4 million for Ronald McDonald House Charities;
- The McDonald’s system invested more than $20 billion in the domestic supply chain.
This is the second straight year McDonald’s has released data on its economic impact. The company of late has taken a more direct role in lobbying for its interests at the state and local level while making its case more public on a host of issues, including franchise regulations and the California fast-food wage law.
Restaurants such as McDonald’s are rarely thought of as an economic engine the way that, say, an auto manufacturing plant or a technology company would. But the industry as a whole employs about one in 10 Americans. One in three have worked at a restaurant in their lifetime, and one in eight has worked specifically at McDonald’s.
“The McDonald’s brand creates opportunities for nearly 2,000 local, small business owners, generates meaningful jobs, offers a place for communities to come together and serves up quality, affordable meals to 90% of the U.S. population every year,” McDonald’s USA President Joe Erlinger said in a statement.
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