Food · The Bronx
NYC Bar Report: Median Cocktail Hits $16, With NoMad Priciest and Bayside Cheapest
Happy hour guide 5PM NYC released its first Barometer Report on October 19, covering menus across 108 neighborhoods. The citywide median cocktail is $16, from $19.50 in NoMad to $12 in Bayside, Queens, with neighborhoods varying far more than boroughs.
By NBT Editors · 2026-10-21
5PM NYC, a happy hour guide, published its first 5PM Barometer Report on October 19. Sam Zukin, a 26-year-old who works in finance, launched the site this February as a central place to find drink specials. It also has a "Plan a Bar Crawl" feature. He says it averages 50,000 visitors a month, and many bars use its free listing tool to post their own hours and specials.
The report crunches more than 109,000 listed prices from 2,254 bar and restaurant menus across 108 neighborhoods in all five boroughs. Zukin notes that the figures leave out tax and tip. The citywide median cocktail costs $16. NoMad is the most expensive neighborhood at $19.50, while Bayside, Queens, near the Long Island border, is the cheapest at $12, followed by Carroll Gardens in Brooklyn and Throggs Neck in the Bronx at $12.50. That makes the gap between NoMad and Bayside $7.50.
Boroughs sit much closer together than neighborhoods do. Median cocktail prices are $17 in Manhattan, $15 in Brooklyn, $14.45 in the Bronx and $14 in both Queens and Staten Island, a spread of no more than $3. The Bronx and Staten Island had noticeably less price data than the other boroughs.
Draft beer tells a different story. NoMad, Midtown and Chelsea share the highest median at $10, while Hamilton Heights in Manhattan and Woodhaven in Queens are lowest at $6.50. Staten Island has the lowest boroughwide draft median at $7.50.
Zukin was struck by how little Google ratings track with price. According to The Spirits Business, the median cocktail price was the same at venues rated above 4.5 stars as at those below four. He reads that as a sign that bar owners are somewhat disconnected from the data, and hopes the report helps independent shops see where they stand in their own neighborhoods. He plans to release the reports quarterly.
The Spirits Business adds menu detail: the Margarita appears on 48% of cocktail menus, the Martini on 41% at $17, and the Spritz on 39% at $16. Cocktails with words like "Gold," "Smoked" or "Matcha" run about $2 higher.
(Details are drawn from points that agree across reports by Gothamist, The Spirits Business, Yahoo Lifestyle (Time Out).)
Opened
Price
