When fast-food executives offer above-average compensation, it is good not only for employees, but also for the brand. Starbucks, which also pays its employees above minimum wage and offers several benefits, received a public relations lift recently in announcing a program that would provide online college educations for thousands of its baristas.

Some competitors assert that these fast-food companies are also influenced by regional economics. They note that many of the companies that pay more are based in high-wage, high-cost-of-living states, like Massachusetts and California, that often have minimum wages well above the federal law. California, where In-N-Out is based, has a $9 statewide minimum wage, while Washington State, home of Seattle-based Starbucks, has the nation’s highest state minimum wage, $9.32 an hour.

According to the M.I.T. Living Wage Calculator, the living wage for a single adult in California is $11.20 an hour (and $22.70 for an adult with one child), while in Massachusetts, it is $11.31 for a single adult — $2 or $3 an hour higher than in many less expensive states.

John Pepper, Boloco’s co-founder, said the strategy for his Boston-based company evolved after it initially adopted a low-wage approach.

“In the company’s early years,” he said, “our goal, like much of the industry, was to pay as little as you can get away with and have people still show up and be reasonably productive.”

But while watching employees mop floors and work late into the night, he realized that for his company to be as great as he hoped, it needed to treat its workers better.

“We were talking about building a culture in which we want our team members to take care of our customers,” Mr. Pepper said. “But we asked, ‘What’s in it for them?’ Honestly, very little.”