McDonald’s sales rise despite consumer pressures

McDonald’s started off 2026 by beating analyst expectations for revenue and profits, though company executives said lower-income consumers in particular are increasingly challenged when it comes to spending money at the world’s largest restaurant chain.

Rising gas prices among other household budget constraints are creating a situation that is “certainly not improving, and it may be getting a little worse,” McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski told analysts Thursday during a first-quarter earnings call. The company expects continued inflationary pressures that “disproportionately impact low-income consumers,” and will respond with ongoing menu discounts, the CEO said.

The Chicago-based operator of 44,000 restaurants worldwide, about a quarter of them in the U.S., reported first-quarter total annual revenue growth of 9%, U.S. same-store growth of 3.9% and global net income growth of 6%. Numerous dining companies have noted consumer challenges that have slowed sales, and Federal Reserve Bank of New York researchers said this week that spiking gas prices are putting particular pressure on spending by lower-income consumers.

Gas prices are up about 50% on average since the start of the Iran war, according to AAA. Households earning less than $40,000 annually “decreased real consumption by much more” compared with 2023, “potentially by carpooling or substituting public transit where available,” Fed researchers said in a blog post.

In a separate report based on an April consumer survey, the regional Fed said U.S. consumers now expect annual inflation to reach 3.6% in the coming year, up 0.2 percentage points from the March survey based on median responses. The annual inflation rate was on the rise at 3.3% as of March, the Labor Department reported.