DC Happy Hour Index
What it actually costs to drink in the DMV, priced from every happy hour we list. Updated as the listings change.
Next happy hour starts in 3h 59m
as of 7:01 AM EDT
The Happy Hour Index
$26.00
A beer, a cocktail, a glass of wine and something to eat.
Cheapest night to go out: Monday at $26.00
Date Night Index
$22.00
Two cocktails and something to share.
The $20 Bill
3.1items
How many happy hour items a twenty still buys.
Priced from 570 venues across every day of the week. 761 venues list a happy hour today.
Drinks
Median of each venue’s cheapest qualifying pour.
| Spread | Trend | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BEERDraft Beer IndexWhat a happy hour beer costs across the DMV.Cheapest: $1 at The Old Fire Station #3 | $5.00 | $4.00–$6.00 | — | — | 381venues | |
| SHOTShot IndexCheapest way to make a decision you regret.Cheapest: $3 at Middleton Tavern | $5.75 | $4.00–$6.00 | — | — | 28venues | |
| RAILRail Drink IndexWell liquor — the floor of the DMV drinks market.Cheapest: $3 at Nellie's Sports Bar | $6.00 | $5.00–$7.38 | — | — | 143venues | |
| WINEHouse Wine IndexA glass of house wine at happy hour prices.Cheapest: $3 at More Better Restaurant & Beer Garden | $7.00 | $6.00–$8.00 | — | — | 371venues | |
| CKTLCocktail IndexThe going rate for a discounted cocktail.Cheapest: $3 at Nellie's Sports Bar | $8.00 | $7.00–$10.00 | — | — | 367venues | |
| MARGMargarita IndexThe DMV’s most-discounted cocktail, tracked on its own.Cheapest: $4 at Alero | $8.00 | $7.00–$10.00 | — | — | 93venues |
Food
Per-item prices. Plate deals are filtered out by bounds.
| Spread | Trend | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WINGWing IndexReviewThe price of a single happy hour wing.Cheapest: $0.50 at Rock It Grill | $0.68 | $0.53–$0.95 | — | — | 10venues | |
| OYSTOyster IndexReviewThe classic buck-a-shuck benchmark, priced per oyster.Cheapest: $.50 at Charley Chesapeake Chophouse | $2.00 | $1.00–$2.38 | — | — | 30venues | |
| FOODBar Food IndexWhat a happy hour snack costs, across every kind of food deal.Cheapest: $1 at J. Hollinger's Waterman's Chophouse | $6.00 | $4.00–$8.00 | — | — | 323venues | |
| TACOTaco IndexTaco Tuesday, quantified.Cheapest: $2 at Don Tito | $7.00 | $5.00–$9.00 | — | — | 50venues | |
| PIZAPizza IndexA whole happy hour pie, region-wide.Cheapest: $5 at O'Malley's Pub | $10.00 | $7.00–$10.00 | — | — | 26venues | |
| BURGBurger IndexThe happy hour burger, region-wide.Cheapest: $6 at Annie's Paramount Steak House | $11.00 | $9.99–$13.00 | — | — | 34venues |
Market conditions
Structure rather than price — read alongside each row’s coverage.
| Spread | Trend | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DURTypical HH DurationHow long the median happy hour actually lasts. | 3h 0m | 2h 0m–3h 0m | — | — | 852venues896/906 parsed | |
| CLIFFThe 7 O’Clock CliffShare of venues whose happy hours are all over by 7pm. | 76.8% | — | — | +0.3pp | 896venues896/906 parsed | |
| WKNDWeekend CoverageShare of venues running a Saturday or Sunday happy hour. | 41.7% | — | — | −0.5pp | 896venues896/906 parsed | |
| LATELate-Night IndexVenues with happy hour still running after 10pm. | 89 | — | — | −4 | 89venues896/906 parsed | |
| BRDTHMarket BreadthVenues with a happy hour today — listings on the exchange. | 761 | — | +436(+134.2%) | −22 | 761venues | |
| FLATFlat-Price ShareShare of specials quoting a real price instead of a discount. | 77.0% | — | — | −0.3pp | 22,026specials |
The Exchange
Cheapest beerManassas$3.00
Each jurisdiction is priced from its own venues, not averaged from the neighborhoods below — that includes the DC listings we can’t place in a specific neighborhood. Selecting one also filters the table.
| ManassasVA | $3.00 | $6.00 | $5.00 | $3.00 | $17.00 | 7 |
| ClarendonVA | $5.00 | $8.00 | $7.00 | $5.50 | $25.50 | 11 |
| Logan CircleDC | $6.00 | $8.00 | $7.50 | $4.50 | $26.00 | 12 |
| Dupont CircleDC | $5.73 | $8.00 | $7.00 | $5.63 | $26.36 | 28 |
| Old Town AlexandriaVA | $5.00 | $8.00 | $6.00 | $7.40 | $26.40 | 21 |
| Adams MorganDC | $5.00 | $9.00 | $7.50 | $5.50 | $27.00 | 13 |
| Navy YardDC | $5.00 | $8.00 | $7.00 | $7.50 | $27.50 | 14 |
| ShawDC | $5.00 | $8.00 | $7.00 | $8.00 | $28.00 | 11 |
| GeorgetownDC | $5.99 | $9.00 | $8.00 | $5.50 | $28.49 | 15 |
| U Street CorridorDC | $6.00 | $9.00 | $8.50 | $5.00 | $28.50 | 13 |
| Penn QuarterDC | $6.00 | $9.00 | $8.00 | $6.00 | $29.00 | 19 |
| The WharfDC | $6.00 | $9.00 | $8.00 | $7.00 | $30.00 | 9 |
| Downtown DCDC | $6.00 | $9.00 | $8.50 | $8.00 | $31.50 | 18 |
| ChinatownDC | $6.00 | $10.00 | $7.50 | $8.00 | $31.50 | 8 |
| BethesdaMD | $5.50 | $9.50 | $8.00 | — | — | 8 |
| AnnapolisMD | $4.00 | — | — | — | — | 7 |
| National HarborMD | — | $7.50 | $7.00 | $7.50 | — | 7 |
| Falls ChurchVA | $5.00 | $10.00 | $7.50 | — | — | 7 |
| Silver SpringMD | — | $10.00 | $7.00 | $4.00 | — | 6 |
| West EndDC | — | $10.00 | $9.00 | $8.50 | — | 6 |
| AlexandriaVA | — | — | — | $8.50 | — | 6 |
| LeesburgVA | — | — | — | $6.00 | — | 6 |
| Foggy BottomDC | $5.50 | — | $7.00 | — | — | 6 |
| Southwest WaterfrontDC | $6.48 | $11.98 | $9.48 | — | — | 6 |
| Tysons CornerVA | — | $10.00 | — | — | — | 6 |
| ColumbiaMD | — | — | — | $7.00 | — | 5 |
| ShirlingtonVA | — | — | — | $5.00 | — | 5 |
| Columbia HeightsDC | $6.00 | — | — | — | — | 5 |
| BallstonVA | — | — | — | $7.00 | — | 5 |
| Barracks RowDC | $5.00 | $8.00 | $7.00 | — | — | 5 |
| Mt Vernon TriangleDC | — | $8.00 | — | — | — | 5 |
| Woodley ParkDC | $6.00 | — | $7.00 | — | — | 5 |
The Index is the four price columns added together, so it only appears when all four publish. A dash means that neighborhood doesn’t have enough priced venues yet — every column needs at least 5 venues behind it. Sorting always leaves the dashes at the bottom.
How these numbers are made
One vote per venue. We take each bar’s cheapest qualifying price, then the median across bars — so a place with a forty-line menu counts exactly as much as a place with one deal.
Median, not average. A single twenty-six dollar cocktail shouldn’t move the market. The spread column shows the middle half of the range, so you can see how much venues actually disagree.
Outliers are filtered and counted. Typos and plate prices are dropped by declared bounds and a Tukey fence. 149 prices were excluded from today’s board, and every index page lists exactly which ones and why.
Falling is good — usually. Green means cheaper, the opposite of a stock ticker. It flips on the coverage and count indexes, where more venues and longer happy hours are the good direction.
Stale prices are excluded. A venue has to have been updated or verified within the last 365 days to be priced here. The typical listing on this board was last touched 10 days ago.
Trends start when we started. We have 67 days of history so far.