What does happy hour actually cost in America? Happy Hour Map tracks specials at 44,000+ bars and restaurants nationwide. For this study we used only the 10,407 venues whose current specials were verified directly from the venue's own website or confirmed by the owner — and extracted 5,960 individual, itemized price points across 1,346 US cities.
This is the largest verified public study of US happy hour pricing we're aware of. Here's what the numbers say in 2026.
All data is sourced from Happy Hour Map, which tracks live happy hour schedules for 44,000+ bars across all 50 states. This study uses only venues whose specials were verified from the venue's own published menu or confirmed by the owner, as of July 2026.
Across every verified, itemized price we tracked, here's the national picture by category:
| Category | Average | Median | Price points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Well / rail drinks | $4.79 | $5.00 | 365 |
| Beer (drafts, domestics, bottles) | $4.96 | $5.00 | 1,806 |
| Wine by the glass | $6.69 | $6.00 | 344 |
| Food specials (apps, wings, tacos) | $6.81 | $7.00 | 982 |
| Cocktails & margaritas | $6.91 | $6.00 | 883 |
The classic advice holds up in the data: $4–6 is the fair zone for a happy hour beer or well drink. Under $4 is a genuine steal. Over $7, it's not really a deal — it's just a menu.
Ranked by average verified drink price (beer and well drinks), among major cities with at least 25 itemized prices. Cheapest first:
| # | City | Avg. drink | Median | Sample |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Antonio, TX | $4.09 | $4.00 | 38 prices |
| 2 | Houston, TX | $4.17 | $4.00 | 39 prices |
| 3 | Austin, TX | $4.38 | $4.50 | 29 prices |
| 4 | Dallas, TX | $4.43 | $4.50 | 30 prices |
| 5 | Albuquerque, NM | $4.82 | $5.00 | 25 prices |
| 6 | Philadelphia, PA | $5.02 | $5.00 | 26 prices |
| 7 | Denver, CO | $5.15 | $5.00 | 25 prices |
| 8 | Seattle, WA | $5.22 | $5.00 | 38 prices |
| 9 | Las Vegas, NV | $5.45 | $5.00 | 40 prices |
| 10 | Brooklyn, NY | $5.49 | $5.00 | 36 prices |
| 11 | Los Angeles, CA | $5.81 | $5.50 | 48 prices |
| 12 | New York, NY | $6.48 | $5.00 | 91 prices |
| 13 | San Francisco, CA | $6.67 | $5.00 | 30 prices |
Texas owns the entire top of the value table — all four of the cheapest major happy hour cities in America are Texan, a fitting result for the state where aggressive drink specials are practically a birthright. At the other end, San Francisco and New York are the only cities where the average verified happy hour drink clears $6.
Among states with at least 50 verified drink prices, cheapest first:
| # | State | Avg. drink | Sample |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Texas | $4.14 | 263 prices |
| 2 | Tennessee | $4.23 | 66 prices |
| 3 | Ohio | $4.31 | 58 prices |
| 4 | Pennsylvania | $4.52 | 59 prices |
| 5 | Illinois | $4.77 | 58 prices |
| 6 | Washington | $4.88 | 92 prices |
| 7 | Florida | $4.93 | 97 prices |
| 8 | Nevada | $5.37 | 60 prices |
| 9 | California | $5.80 | 493 prices |
| 10 | New York | $6.03 | 161 prices |
Not every happy hour advertises a set price. About 1 in 5 verified deals simply knocks a flat dollar amount off the regular price — a neighborhood-bar classic. Across 1,580 verified dollar-off deals:
"A couple bucks off drafts" is, statistically, the most American happy hour discount there is.
Journalists, researchers, and bloggers: this data is free to use and cite under CC BY 4.0. We just ask that you credit "Happy Hour Map" and link to this page. Want a custom cut of the data for your market (e.g., average drink prices for your metro, or year-over-year comparisons as we publish future editions)? Get in touch — we're happy to run numbers for stories.
Happy Hour Map tracks happy hour listings for 44,332 bars and restaurants across all 50 states. For this study we analyzed only the 10,407 venues whose current specials were verified directly from the venue's own published website or menu, or confirmed by the venue owner — covering 1,346 US cities. From those verified specials we extracted 5,960 usable, itemized price signals: 4,380 absolute prices (e.g., "$5 house margaritas") categorized as beer, wine, cocktails, well drinks, or food, plus 1,580 flat dollar-off discounts (e.g., "$2 off all drafts"). We additionally excluded a small set of generic fallback phrases our own collection system historically recorded when a happy hour was confirmed but its details couldn't be itemized — only fully itemized, venue-specific prices count toward the index. Prices outside plausible bounds were discarded. City rankings require a minimum of 25 price samples; state rankings require 50. Cities were assigned to states by ZIP code. Averages are simple means across advertised prices; medians are reported alongside to guard against outliers. Timing statistics are parsed from each venue's advertised happy hour schedule (9,851 verified venues with parseable times).
A note on limitations: advertised specials change frequently, and our verified set skews toward venues that publish their specials online. City samples are modest (25–91 itemized prices per city); treat city-level averages as directional comparisons, not menu guarantees.
Every number in this study comes from a real, mapped venue. Download Happy Hour Map to see tonight's specials near you — free, on an interactive map.
The average verified happy hour beer in the US costs $4.96 (median $5.00), based on 1,806 itemized price points.
San Antonio — an average drink there runs $4.09. Texas swept the rankings: San Antonio, Houston, Austin, and Dallas are the four cheapest major happy hour cities in America.
About 1 in 5 deals is a flat dollar amount off, and the median dollar-off discount is $2.00 (average $1.81).
The median start is 3 PM, and 85.5% of happy hours begin by 4 PM. The median session runs 3 hours.
Happy Hour