Beer Price Trends: Which States Are Most And Least Expensive?

They are perhaps the two greatest words ever crafted in the English language.

Cheap Beer.

Because the only thing better than downing a cold one is doing it without breaking the bank.

So, where exactly can you get the most brew for your buck?

Toast, a point-of-sale and management system in the food service industry, collected data from March 2025 to March 2026 at tens of thousands of full-service restaurants and bars nationwide to find where beer is the cheapest in all 50 states.

The median price for beer at bars and restaurants in the U.S. is now $6.52, a 1.9 percent year-over-year markup from 2025.

Hawaii records the highest median price for a pint of beer out of all 50 states in 2026 at $8.00. Trailing behind it are New York at $7.97 and California at $7.96. New Mexico saw the largest spike in beer prices over the past year, with a 4.8 percent increase. Costs in South Carolina and Montana also rose by 4.2 percent and 4 percent

Only three states recorded a year-over-year drop in beer costs: Oklahoma (-1.4 percent), Alaska (-1.3 percent), and West Virginia (-0.1 percent).

The cheapest state for beer is Mississippi, with a median price of $4.80 — the only state below the $5 threshold.

So where does South Dakota land on the list?

The good news? We're among the Top Five 'Cheap Beer Havens' in America.

The bad news? South Dakota is one of seven states that actually saw beer prices go up by more than three percent in in the last 12 months.

Cheapest Median Price for a Pint of Beer

Mississippi $4.80
Kansas $5.12
West Virginia $5.12
Wisconsin $5.17
South Dakota $5.22
Oklahoma $5.24
Iowa $5.29
Louisiana $5.32
Ohio $5.37
North Carolina $5.37
Alabama $5.37

While the Mount Rushmore State is one of just five with a median price of under $5.25, a pint of beer in a whopping 11 states will set you back seven dollars or more.

Most Expensive Median Price for a Pint of Beer

Hawaii $8.00
New York $7.97
California $7.96
Massachusetts $7.67
Vermont $7.26
Washington $7.20
Nevada $7.18
Maine $7.16
Utah $7.03
Alaska $7.00
Connecticut $7.00

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LOOK: Best Beers From Every State

To find the best beer in each state and Washington D.C., Stacker analyzed January 2020 data from BeerAdvocate, a website that gathers user scores for beer in real-time. BeerAdvocate makes its determinations by compiling consumer ratings for all 50 states and Washington D.C. and applying a weighted rank to each. The weighted rank pulls the beer toward the list's average based on the number of ratings it has and aims to allow lesser-known beers to increase in rank. Only beers with at least 10 rankings to be considered; we took it a step further to only include beers with at least 100 user rankings in our gallery. Keep reading to find out what the best beer is in each of the 50 states and Washington D.C.

Gallery Credit: Angela Underwood

Biggest sources of immigrants to South Dakota

Stacker compiled a ranking of the biggest sources of immigrants to South Dakota.

Gallery Credit: Stacker

States sending the most people to South Dakota

Stacker compiled a list of states where the most people are moving to South Dakota using data from the Census Bureau.

Gallery Credit: Stacker

Source: Find Out Where South Dakota Ranks For Beer Prices

Filed Under: Beer, Economy

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