The short answer
Denver (DEN) has the best value airport food in this ranking. A coffee, a meal, and a beer total $29.25 there, the lowest basket in our index.
Newark (EWR) is the priciest at $37.91 for the same three items. The gap between the cheapest and priciest ranked airports is $8.66.
This ranking measures price, not taste. It tells you where airport food costs least, not where it tastes best. Cheapest does not mean tastiest, and priciest does not mean best.
The rankings: cheapest airport food
Ranked cheapest to priciest by basket total. The basket is one coffee, one average restaurant meal, and one beer, all bought airside. Prices checked 12 November 2026. Full prices and sources are on our Airport Food Price Index page.
| Rank | Airport | Coffee | Meal | Beer | Basket total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Denver (DEN) | $4.55 | $16.70 | $8.00 | $29.25 |
| 2 | Phoenix (PHX) | $5.15 | $16.05 | $9.05 | $30.25 |
| 3 | Las Vegas (LAS) | $5.15 | $14.81 | $11.00 | $30.96 |
| 4 | Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) | $3.50 | $16.78 | $11.99 | $32.27 |
| 5 | Los Angeles (LAX) | $5.05 | $20.20 | $8.00 | $33.25 |
| 6 | New York JFK (JFK) | $4.40 | $18.60 | $11.82 | $34.82 |
| 7 | San Francisco (SFO) | $3.80 | $19.03 | $12.61 | $35.44 |
| 8 | Chicago O’Hare (ORD) | $4.55 | $20.60 | $10.85 | $36.00 |
| 9 | Boston (BOS) | $4.05 | $25.00 | $8.75 | $37.80 |
| 10 | Newark (EWR) | $4.40 | $23.10 | $10.41 | $37.91 |
What stands out
Las Vegas has the cheapest average meal in the index at $14.81. Boston has the priciest at $25.00. That $10.19 meal gap is the main reason Boston ranks near the bottom.
San Francisco has the priciest beer in the index at $12.61. Dallas-Fort Worth has the cheapest coffee at $3.50 for a grande brewed coffee at Starbucks.
Denver wins on balance, not on any single item. Its coffee, meal, and beer are all in the cheaper half of the index, and no single item drags its basket up.
Airports we could not rank
Five US airports are unranked because no published average meal price could be verified for them: Atlanta (ATL), Charlotte (CLT), Washington Dulles (IAD), Miami (MIA), and Seattle-Tacoma (SEA). Their coffee and beer prices are verified, and four of them have a verified fast-food combo meal price, but a combo meal is a cheaper item than an average restaurant meal, so it cannot stand in for one in the ranking.
London Heathrow (LHR) is shown separately on the index page because its prices are in pounds. Its basket is £30.15 (about $40.02), from menu prices at Bill’s in Terminal 2. Heathrow is not ranked against the US airports.
How this ranking works
This page ranks airports by the basket total from our Airport Food Price Index. The basket is one coffee (a grande brewed coffee at Starbucks), one meal (the average restaurant meal price reported for that airport), and one beer (the average price of a regular-sized domestic macro brew). All three are airside prices.
An airport is ranked only when all three prices are verified from published sources. That is why 10 US airports are ranked and five are not.
Prices come from different dates, because no single study covers all three items at every airport. Coffee figures are from February and July 2026. Beer figures are from a 2024 survey, the most recent full 50-airport survey we found. Meal figures are from February and October 2025. Each price is cited with its source and date on the index page.
Prices change. Treat this ranking as a comparison of airports, not a promise of what you will pay on the day. And remember, this ranking is about price only. A cheap airport meal can still be a good one, and an expensive one can still disappoint.
Sources
All prices come from the Airport Food Price Index, built 12 November 2026. Its sources, with dates: View From The Wing, Starbucks prices, 9 February 2026; Upgraded Points, Starbucks price markups, September 2026 (data collected July 2026); FinanceBuzz, US airport beer prices, data collected 2024; Altezza Travel, worst US airports for restaurant experiences, 27 October 2025, revised 26 May 2026; SEO for Restaurants, top US airports for dining, February 2025; Casino.ca, most expensive airports for spring break travel, data collected February 2026; Bill’s Heathrow Terminal 2 menus, July 2026; ATL Breakfast Club, 28 October 2026; XE.com GBP to USD rate, 12 November 2026. Full links and notes are on the index page.