Is it costing you major Star-bucks?
The beverage that fuels people’s productivity may be costing them a pretty penny in wages. Java website Coffeeness analyzed how many minutes Americans in each state need to clock to get their daily fix of Starbucks — with Arkansas coming in first in this regard.
The bean counters reportedly compared the cost of a Starbucks coffee in each region to said state’s hourly wage, which was based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Coffeeness then used this formula to calculate the number of work hours it would take for office java junkies to afford a cup of plain black coffee — sans creamer or other add-ons — from the green and white grounds merchant.
They also performed the same calculation for a regular cup of joe at an independent shop for reference.
This study comes as java prices are going to Pluto due to various factors, including labor costs, coffee harvests, and weather impacting crops in coffee-producing nations like Vietnam.
Over the past ten years, Starbucks prices have soared a ludicrous 39%, outpacing even the national inflation rate of 31%.
Arkansas placed first when it came to the least beans for your buck.
The average price of a Starbucks coffee in the Land Of Opportunity clocks in at $5.24 per cup, which when coupled with the average hourly earnings of $30.25, equates to 10.39 minutes of toil required for a cup of labor lubricant.
“While it doesn’t have the lowest average hourly wage, folks still have to put in more minutes than anyone else to afford it,” Coffeeness wrote.
Things aren’t much better in Mississippi and New Mexico, where working stiffs have to put 10.37 and 10.31 minutes respectively to get their fix.
Meanwhile, Wyoming (10.10) and South Dakota (10.07) rounded out the top five.
New York — the land of premium-priced foodstuffs — shockingly only placed 38th with residents working an average of just 8.08 minutes to afford their people diesel.
Here are the ten states where Starbucks is the most expensive
- Arkansas (10.39 minutes)
- Mississippi (10.37)
- New Mexico (10.31)
- Wyoming (10.10)
- South Dakota (10.07)
- Oklahoma (10.01)
- Louisiana (9.99)
- West Virginia (9.92)
- Vermont (9.79)
- Iowa (9.79)
Washington D.C. workers have to clock in the least amount of time for an Americano, putting in just 5.67 minutes — or just 9.45% of the state’s hourly wage of $55.02.
This almost seems paradoxical given that the nation’s capital boasts among the highest Starbucks prices in the country at $5.20 per cup.
The next most affordable cup can be found in Massachusetts, where residents’ time-to-bean ratio clocks in at 6.68 minutes.
Rounding out the top five for affordability are Washington (6.80), Connecticut (7.28) and Colorado (7.32) while New Jersey placed seventh (7.46).
The top ten most affordable Starbucks states
- Washington D.C. (5.67)
- Massachusetts (6.68)
- Washington (6.8)
- Connecticut (7.28)
- Colorado (7.32)
- California (7.42)
- New Jersey (7.46)
- Maryland (7.47)
- Minnesota (7.58)
- Hawaii (7.59)
Coincidentally, Hawaii is the most expensive state when it comes to the regular coffee-to-wage ratio, requiring 7.89 minutes to work off a cup.
Meanwhile, Nebraska is the cheapest at just 3.88 minutes per cup.
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