What does a coffee, a meal, and a beer cost after security? We checked published prices at 16 major airports and ranked them from cheapest to priciest.
Prices checked 12 November 2026. Every price below comes from a published source, cited with its date. Where we could not verify a price, we say so instead of guessing.
Key findings
- Denver (DEN) is the cheapest airport in the ranked index. A coffee, a meal, and a beer total $29.25.
- Newark (EWR) is the priciest in the ranked index at $37.91 for the same three items.
- The gap between the cheapest and priciest ranked airports is $8.66 on a three-item basket.
- San Francisco (SFO) has the priciest beer in the index at $12.61. Washington Dulles (IAD) has the cheapest at $7.79.
- Las Vegas (LAS) has the cheapest average meal in the index at $14.81. Boston (BOS) has the priciest at $25.00.
- Coffee is the most consistent item. A grande brewed coffee at Starbucks ranges from $3.50 at Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) to $5.15 at Charlotte (CLT), Las Vegas (LAS), and Phoenix (PHX).
The ranked index: US airports
The basket is one coffee, one meal, and one beer. Coffee is a grande brewed coffee at Starbucks. The meal is the average restaurant meal price reported for that airport. Beer is the average price of a regular-sized domestic macro brew.
Prices are in USD. Taxes are not included in the coffee figures, which are pre-tax app prices.
| 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 |
About the meal figures. Meal prices come from two studies that both use Google Maps user-reported average prices per meal: Altezza Travel (October 2025, revised May 2026) and SEO for Restaurants (February 2025). Where both studies cover an airport, we use Altezza because it is newer. The older figure is recorded in our data file.
London Heathrow (LHR): priced in pounds
Heathrow is shown separately because its prices are in pounds, not dollars. The figures below are menu prices from Bill’s restaurant in Terminal 2, published on heathrow.com (menus dated July 2026).
USD conversions use GBP 1 = USD 1.3274 (XE.com, 12 November 2026). Heathrow is not ranked against the US airports.
| Item | What it is | Price (GBP) | Price (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coffee | Latte, Bill’s Terminal 2 | £4.25 | $5.64 |
| Meal | Classic burger, Bill’s Terminal 2 | £18.70 | $24.82 |
| Beer | Pint of house lager, Bill’s Terminal 2 | £7.20 | $9.56 |
| Basket total | £30.15 | $40.02 |
On the same menu, a Poretti or Guinness pint costs £7.95, a single espresso costs £3.55, and mac and cheese costs £14.95. See our London Heathrow airport hotels guide.
Partial data: five airports we could not rank
We could not verify an average meal price from a published source for five airports, so they carry no basket total and no rank. Their coffee and beer prices are verified. Four of them also have a verified fast-food combo meal price, shown here for reference. A combo meal is a cheaper item than an average restaurant meal, so it cannot stand in for one in the ranking.
| Airport | Coffee | Beer | Fast-food combo meal | Average meal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlanta (ATL) | $3.70 | $8.43 | Not verified | Not verified |
| Charlotte (CLT) | $5.15 | $9.20 | $12.50 | Not verified |
| Washington Dulles (IAD) | $3.80 | $7.79 | $14.50 | Not verified |
| Miami (MIA) | $3.80 | $8.80 | $12.50 | Not verified |
| Seattle-Tacoma (SEA) | $4.20 | $11.21 | $14.33 | Not verified |
For Atlanta, one published guide (ATL Breakfast Club, 28 October 2026) gives ranges only: fast-casual meals run $10 to $15, and a sit-down meal with a drink runs $25 to $35. Ranges are not averages, so Atlanta stays unranked.
Fast-food combo meals
Separately, Casino.ca collected fast-food combo meal prices (McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Chick-fil-A, Popeyes, Smashburger, and KFC, averaged where several outlets operate) at 20 US airports in February 2026. Only nine of our airports have a combo price stated in the published article.
| Airport | Fast-food combo meal |
|---|---|
| Denver (DEN) | $12.40 |
| Charlotte (CLT) | $12.50 |
| Miami (MIA) | $12.50 |
| New York JFK (JFK) | $12.60 |
| Seattle-Tacoma (SEA) | $14.33 |
| Las Vegas (LAS) | $14.50 |
| Newark (EWR) | $14.50 |
| Washington Dulles (IAD) | $14.50 |
| Los Angeles (LAX) | $15.33 |
The average across the 20 airports in that study was $13.51. Denver had the cheapest combo meal and Los Angeles the priciest.
How the index works
Each airport gets three prices: a coffee, a meal, and a beer. All three are airside prices, inside the terminal after security.
Coffee is a grande brewed coffee at Starbucks. Beer is the average price of a regular-sized domestic macro brew, such as Budweiser or Bud Light, averaged across at least five bars and restaurants per airport. The meal is the average restaurant meal price for the airport, as reported by Google Maps users.
The basket total is the three prices added together. Airports are ranked cheapest to priciest by basket total. An airport is ranked only when all three prices are verified from published sources.
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 below.
Prices change. Treat this index as a comparison of airports, not a promise of what you will pay on the day.
Sources
- Coffee, 12 airports. View From The Wing, “Your Starbucks Drink Costs 50% More at Some Airports,” 9 February 2026. Grande coffee prices catalogued across 24 major airports. viewfromthewing.com
- Coffee, Charlotte, Las Vegas, Phoenix. Upgraded Points, “Airports With the Biggest Starbucks Price Markups,” September 2026. Pretax prices collected through the Starbucks mobile app in July 2026. upgradedpoints.com
- Beer, all 15 US airports. FinanceBuzz, “U.S. Airports with the Most Expensive Beer Prices,” data collected 2024, via VinePair / Relief Time, 31 October 2024. relievetime.com (original: financebuzz.com)
- Meal, Boston, Denver, New York JFK, Los Angeles, Newark, Chicago O’Hare. Altezza Travel, “The worst airports in the U.S. for restaurant experiences,” published 27 October 2025, revised 26 May 2026. altezzatravel.com
- Meal, Dallas-Fort Worth, Las Vegas, Phoenix, San Francisco. SEO for Restaurants, “Top US Airports for Dining,” February 2025, via Chris Cruises. chriscruises.com
- Fast-food combo meals. Casino.ca, “America’s Most Expensive Airports for Spring Break Travel,” data collected February 2026. casino.ca
- London Heathrow. Bill’s, Heathrow Terminal 2, food and drinks menus published on heathrow.com, menus dated July 2026. Mains menu (PDF), Drinks menu (PDF)
- Atlanta meal ranges. ATL Breakfast Club, “Best Food at Atlanta Airport for Your Next Layover,” 28 October 2026. atlbreakfastclub.com
- GBP to USD rate. XE.com, 1 GBP = 1.32741 USD, 12 November 2026. xe.com
Airport Food Price Index, built 12 November 2026.