Shrimp in Boston

12 restaurants in Boston list shrimp on their menus. The cheapest is Ugi's Subs at $8.50. The typical price across town is $19.00, and the dearest we found is $27.59 at AK's Takeout & Delivery, so the two ends of the list are $19.09 apart, which is 225% more for the same dish. Of the 12 kitchens listed, 6 charge more than a dollar under the typical price, 3 sit within a dollar of it and 3 charge more than a dollar over.

We track shrimp in 81 other areas and compare them all on shrimp across United States. The typical price there runs $15.95 at the median, so Boston is dearer than most of them, with a lower typical price than 13 of the 81. The lowest best price anywhere we cover is $4.00 at Butterfly Belly Asian Cuisine in Portland, OR, and the highest best price is $19.50 in Revere, MA. The nearest area with it is Dorchester, about 3 mi away, where the best price is $13.50.

Where is the cheapest shrimp in Boston? Ugi's Subs, at $8.50 on 68 Warren St. The same dish reaches $27.59 elsewhere in town, so where you order it changes the bill by $19.09.

What should shrimp cost here? About $19.00 is the typical price across the 12 kitchens in Boston that list it. Of the ones listed above, 6 are more than a dollar below that and 3 are more than a dollar above, so the typical price is a middle rather than a floor.

Is it cheaper nearby? The nearest area we track it in is Dorchester, about 3 mi away, where the best price is $13.50. That is $5.00 more than the best price here.

Why do the prices differ so much? We compare what each menu calls the same dish, and menus are not identical: portion, cut, sides and the kind of room you are sitting in all ride on the price, and none of that shows up in a number. Part portions and half sizes are kept out of this comparison, and a chain charging the same at several addresses is counted once, so the spread above is between genuinely different kitchens rather than the same one repeated.