Chipotle vs McDonald's: $1,000 invested since 2023
CMG vs MCD · Data through 2026-06-01
$1,000 invested in 2023 would be worth
Chipotle
$1,032+3.2%
McDonald'sWinner
$1,090+9.0%
The same $1,000 in the S&P 500 would be worth $1,916(+91.6%)
Growth of $1,000
Chipotle vs. McDonald's vs. S&P 500, 2023 to present
Year-by-year comparison
Chipotle vs. McDonald's, 2023 to present
| Year | Chipotle | McDonald's |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | $1,000 | $1,000 |
| 2024 | $1,463 | $1,119 |
| 2025 | $1,772 | $1,131 |
| 2026 | $1,180 | $1,263 |
Which came out ahead
Starting in 2023, McDonald's (MCD) was the better of the two against Chipotle (CMG). That $1,000 grew to $1,090 in MCD versus $1,033 in CMG as of 2026-06-01, roughly $57 more in the end.
The headline returns line up with the dollar figures. McDonald's returned +9.0% against Chipotle at +3.3%, a gap of about 5.7 percentage points over the 3.6-year window. Compounded, that is about 2.4% a year for MCD against 0.9% for CMG.
Neither holding beat a plain S&P 500 fund over the same span. The index would have grown that $1,000 to about $1,916, compounding near 19.9% a year. In a window this short, one strong or weak stretch can swing the result more than a long-run average would. All figures use split-adjusted closing prices and exclude dividends, taxes, fees, and inflation, so a real after-tax result would differ.
Treat this as history rather than advice about either company. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
Other start years
Chipotle vs McDonald's from a different starting point
Individual stock pages
Numbers worth sharing
Occasional data drops when something interesting surfaces. No schedule, just signal.
For informational and educational purposes only. Not financial advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results. All calculations are based on split-adjusted closing prices from Yahoo Finance and do not account for dividends, taxes, or trading fees. See our methodology and full disclaimer.