A $16 cocktail is now typical in NYC. A new report maps the priciest and cheapest neighborhoods for a drink

The typical cocktail on a New York City menu now costs $16 before tax and tip, a draft beer $9 and a glass of wine $14, according to a new report from the happy-hour guide 5PM NYC, which analyzed 109,975 listed prices from 2,254 bar and restaurant menus in 108 neighborhoods.

The Fall 2026 5PM Barometer Report, published Monday with data through September, finds that the neighborhood matters far more than the borough. Boroughs are only $3 apart on a cocktail, while neighborhoods are $7.50 apart.

Where a cocktail costs the most, and the least

• Priciest: NoMad ($19.50), Tribeca ($19), Kips Bay ($18.50), then SoHo, Nolita, Midtown, Chelsea and the West Village ($18). All of the 10 most expensive neighborhoods are in Manhattan.
• Cheapest: Bayside, Queens ($12), followed by Carroll Gardens in Brooklyn and Throggs Neck in the Bronx ($12.50).
• By borough: Manhattan $17, Brooklyn $15, and the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island between $14 and $14.45.
• Draft beer: from $6.50 in Hamilton Heights to $10 in Midtown, NoMad and Chelsea. Gothamist notes Woodhaven ties Hamilton Heights, and Staten Island has the lowest borough-wide draft price at $7.50.

The drinks New Yorkers order

The margarita is the most widely listed cocktail, on 48% of cocktail menus at a median $15; it runs $19 in Boerum Hill and $9 in Inwood. The espresso martini has a median of $17, topping out at $20 in Tribeca, and the old fashioned is $17, with Tribeca again the priciest at $21. Where both are on the menu, a non-alcoholic cocktail is typically a third cheaper than a regular one, but only 17% of cocktail menus list one.

Happy hour

About a quarter of the bars and restaurants with menus on file have a verified happy hour, and the cut is steep: the typical discount is 38% on cocktails and 37% on draft beer. Happy hour is a weekday thing, offered on Wednesdays and Thursdays by nearly all of them but on weekends by only 39%. It is most common in Washington Heights (64% of venues), Cobble Hill and Harlem (56% each).

Price versus income

Counted against local incomes, the map flips. A typical $17 cocktail in Two Bridges equals 17.3% of a day's median household income there, the least affordable in the city, while in DUMBO a $16 cocktail is 2.3%. Citywide it is 4.3%; the Bronx is the least affordable borough at 6.8% and Brooklyn the most at 3.8%. The report also found higher Google ratings don't come with higher prices: highly rated spots charge the same $16 median.

"You're seeing some neighborhoods that are charging basically twice as much as others across the city," 5PM NYC founder Sam Zukin told Gothamist. Zukin, who launched the guide in February, plans to publish the report quarterly; the next edition is due this winter.

The figures are listed menu prices for a standard serving, one median per venue, and exclude happy-hour specials. Gothamist notes the Bronx and Staten Island had much less price data than the other boroughs.