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Mapped: The Price of Starbucks Coffee, by Country

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A map of the world with the price of a Starbucks Tall Latte listed against each country.

Mapped: The Price of Starbucks by Country

In 1971, three former students from the University of San Francisco set up the first Starbucks at Seattle’s Pike Place Market, selling fresh roasted coffee beans, teas, and spices from around the world. This was a relatively humble beginning for what is now the largest coffeehouse chain in the world.

Today, Starbucks boasts 32,000 stores across 80 countries, second only to McDonald’s in the fast-food chain business. And like McDonald’s, the price of a coffee at Starbucks varies wildly depending on the country you’re in.

This map made by SavingSpot has the answer to which country has the most and least expensive Starbucks coffee, for those connoisseurs who want to get the most bang for their (Star)buck—or for those who want to examine relative cost and purchasing power.

Which Country Has the Most Expensive Starbucks Coffee?

The underlying data for this map uses a combination of sources, including delivery apps, Google Reviews, menu images, and desk research, all cross-checked to come up with the price of a Tall Latte per country (converted to USD).

Per their findings, the most expensive Tall Latte (12 oz) in the world can be found in Switzerland for $7.17. On the other hand, the same drink can be bought for a little over a dollar in Türkiye.

Here’s the full rankings of the “Tall Latte Index”:

CountryTall Latte Price
Türkiye$1.31
Brazil$1.96
Aruba$2.22
Egypt$2.23
Peru$2.49
Colombia$2.50
South Africa$2.64
Bulgaria$2.69
Morocco$2.81
Italy$2.84
Russia$2.91
Cyprus$2.97
Malaysia$3.04
Indonesia$3.08
Bolivia$3.19
Guatemala$3.23
Cambodia$3.25
Philippines$3.26
United States$3.26
Andorra$3.28
Romania$3.29
Hungary$3.34
New Zealand$3.34
Trinidad and Tobago$3.39
Azerbaijan$3.41
Vietnam$3.42
Austria$3.48
Belgium$3.52
Jordan$3.53
India$3.56
Poland$3.56
Japan$3.57
Portugal$3.59
Thailand$3.64
Bahamas$3.75
Slovakia$3.80
Jamaica$3.84
Canada$3.85
Greece$3.92
Czech Republic$3.93
Spain$3.95
Australia$3.97
Puerto Rico$4.05
Oman$4.09
South Korea$4.11
Qatar$4.12
Costa Rica$4.22
China$4.23
Bahrain$4.24
El Salvador$4.25
Saudi Arabia$4.27 (Iced Caffè Latte)
UAE-Dubai$4.29
Kuwait$4.30
Ireland$4.39
Uruguay$4.42
Netherlands$4.44
Germany$4.49
Argentina$4.67
Panama$4.70
Monaco$4.80
Sweden$4.83
Taiwan$4.86
Singapore$4.90
Chile$4.95
Norway$5.08
United Kingdom$5.31
France$5.36
Luxembourg$5.51
Hong Kong/Macau$5.52
Finland$5.67
Denmark$6.55
Switzerland$7.17

The U.S. has the 21st-least expensive coffee in the world at $3.26 for a Tall Latte, making it an unusual combination of a high-income country with a low price. Usually, it’s more common to see countries with a “developing” or “low-to-middle income” status have cheaper Starbucks prices than higher-income countries.

The Price of a Tall Latte Relative to Income

However, simply converting local prices to USD doesn’t give the most accurate picture of how expensive Starbucks is in a country. Taking purchasing power into consideration, here’s how the price of a Tall Latte measures as a percentage of a country’s median daily income.

A bar chart showing the how much of a percentage of the daily median income would go into buying a Starbucks Tall Latte in the 10 most and least expensive countries.

In Cambodia and India, it would take more than 70% of the median daily wage to buy a Starbucks coffee. Other countries with relatively cheaper Tall Lattes in U.S. dollar terms include Indonesia, Morocco, and Bolivia—but these are still not the most affordable for local customers.

For a more broad-based view of Starbucks affordability, SavingSpot has also charted the price of a Tall Latte against each country’s per capita GDP. Countries placing higher than the trendline get relatively bad value at Starbucks, while those below the line can get more lattes with their average local paycheck.

Switzerland, Denmark and Luxembourg all have expensive Tall Lattes, even relative to their high-earning populations.

But countries like Chile, Panama, and Argentina have the worst of both worlds. Not only do they have more expensive lattes than higher GDP per capita countries like Canada, the U.S., and Australia, they do so at a fraction of the income.

What’s the Most Expensive Starbucks Item?

Based on SavingSpot’s findings, the Iced Caramel Macchiato in Switzerland is the most expensive Starbucks menu item in the world, coming in at a whopping $9.31 for a coffee with vanilla-flavored syrup and a caramel drizzle.

A graphic showing the 10 most expensive items at Starbucks. The Iced Caramel Macchiato in Switzerland costs $9.31.

Denmark, Luxembourg, and France also have items well above the $7 USD price tag.

Whether those prices justify the quality of Starbucks coffee is a question best left up to the coffee aficionados, but for Starbucks, it’s a strategy that’s certainly helping the company’s earnings.

Still have questions about coffee? Check out From Bean to Brew which breaks down the complicated coffee supply chain.
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This article was published as a part of Visual Capitalist's Creator Program, which features data-driven visuals from some of our favorite Creators around the world.

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Technology

Charting Grand Theft Auto: GTA’s Budget and Revenues

Dive into the GTA budget through the years, with GTA VI set to be the most expensive video game of all time.

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A cropped chart comparing the GTA budget and revenue across three game titles.

Charting Grand Theft Auto: GTA’s Budget and Revenues

Over 10 years since the launch of Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V), the second most-sold video game in history, Rockstar Games has announced its sequel GTA VI will be “coming 2025.”

As the anticipation only grows for this next big entry in the franchise, we take a look at the GTA budget through the years. How much have the last two games cost to make, how much have they earned, and how do they compare with the latest entry?

Data for this visualization comes from Statista, TweakTown, and Twitch Metrics.

How Much Has GTA VI Cost to Make?

The GTA franchise has grown enormously in scale from humble beginnings as a top-down, 2D video game in 1997. Fifteen installments later, the upcoming release, GTA VI, is estimated to be the most expensive video game to be made yet.

Here’s a look at how much GTA VI and the last two major releases cost, and how much revenue they’ve earned as of August 2023.

YearTitleProduction Costs ($)Revenue ($)Copies Sold
2025 (est.)GTA VI$2B (rumored)N/AN/A
2013GTA V $265M$7.7B185M
2008GTA IV$100M$2B25M

In 2008, GTA IV cost around $100 million—already a budget that rivalled big Hollywood releases. However with 25 million copies sold, the game earned nearly $2 billion—a five-fold return on its production cost.

Five years later, GTA V (2013) cost more than $200 million to make—twice GTA IV’s budget. A decade after its release, GTA V has generated close to $8 billion, with hundreds of millions in annual revenue from subscriptions and in-game purchases—a model that its successor is sure to follow.

In fact, subscription fees and in-game purchases represented 78% of Take-Two Interactive’s (parent of GTA developer Rockstar Games) revenues in 2023.

Analysts estimate the to-be-released GTA VI’s costs at $2 billion, including marketing and other expenses. A massive open-world (set in the Miami-inspired “Vice City”), cutting edge graphics, and a reportedly brand-new game engine are all reasons for the game’s outsized budget.

For comparison, the current most expensive games to have been made include Red Dead Redemption 2 (also by Rockstar) and Star Citizen, both reportedly with a $500 million budget.

Meanwhile, Take-Two Interactive shares are up more than 50% for the year.

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