How to price a happy hour in Seattle
Recomputed September 19, 2026 from HapHunt's verified Seattle menu data.
Nobody publishes what a Seattle happy hour actually costs. Without real numbers, you're pricing against a competitor's chalkboard and hope. Here they are, based on 3,859 verified prices at 248 Seattle restaurants. Every figure below is computed from that set. None of it is a survey, and none of it is rounded up.
What the market charges
Median happy-hour price, median regular price, and the middle half of the happy-hour range. n is how many priced items the row is based on.
| Category | n | Median HH | Median regular | Median % off | Middle half (HH) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cocktails | 230 | $12.00 | $15.00 | 21% | $10.00 – $13.00 |
| Beer | 450 | $7.00 | $8.00 | 17% | $6.00 – $8.00 |
| Wine | 225 | $10.00 | $13.00 | 20% | $8.00 – $12.00 |
| Food | 1,819 | $10.00 | $15.00 | 26% | $7.50 – $13.40 |
Food is every priced food item in the set, so that row is complete. The drink rows are matched on menu names, which makes them subsets: they don't add up to 3,859, and a row that isn't here means nothing matched by name, not that the city doesn't pour it. A dash means no item in the row carried a comparable percentage.
How deep the discounts run
Half of all priced happy-hour items sit between 14% and 33% off. The median is 22%. Under 14% puts you in the shallowest quarter. Over 33% and you are cutting deeper than three quarters of priced items.
Items a venue doesn't discount at all stay in this distribution. Dropping them would flatter the median, and this is a benchmark, not a deals list. Percentages come only from items whose happy-hour and regular prices are directly comparable — a half portion against a full one still counts in the price medians above, but states no percentage.
When Seattle runs happy hour
Venues with at least one happy-hour window on each day.
| Monday | 191 venues |
| Tuesday | 216 venues |
| Wednesday | 236 venues |
| Thursday | 237 venues |
| Friday | 230 venues |
| Saturday | 171 venues |
| Sunday | 156 venues |
Thursday is the busiest day at 237 venues. Sunday is the thinnest at 156. That gap is the opening.
That is the city, not your block. Capitol Hill runs 39 happy hours on Wednesday and 27 on Monday, its thinnest — which is not the city's thinnest day. The week looks different on every street.
What each neighborhood charges
The number your block actually prices against.
| Neighborhood | n | Median HH |
|---|---|---|
| Capitol Hill | 630 | $8.50 |
| Belltown | 575 | $10.00 |
| Queen Anne | 356 | $10.00 |
| Fremont | 342 | $10.00 |
| Ballard | 304 | $10.00 |
| Downtown Seattle | 261 | $10.00 |
| Denny Triangle | 217 | $10.00 |
| West Seattle | 192 | $11.00 |
| Wallingford | 189 | $7.50 |
| South Lake Union | 183 | $12.00 |
| Pike Place Market | 172 | $10.00 |
| Pioneer Square | 172 | $9.00 |
| Greenwood | 120 | $6.50 |
| University District | 58 | $7.00 |
| First Hill | 44 | $12.00 |
| International District | 24 | $10.00 |
| North Beacon Hill | 20 | $8.13 |
n is how many priced items the row is based on. Neighborhoods with fewer than 10 priced items are not listed — too few prices to call a median.
Median regular price and median discount by neighborhood are not on this page. On their own they are a number to copy. Against your own menu they are a position, and that comparison is the report.
How to use this
- Price against your block, not the city: the median happy-hour item runs $12.00 in First Hill and $6.50 in Greenwood. A citywide median fits neither.
- Skip the round number. 14% off puts you at the shallow edge of the middle half of the market, 33% at the deep edge, and 22% is the midpoint.
- Coverage is a lever too: Thursday has 237 venues running a happy hour, Sunday has 156. The thinnest day is the least crowded thing you can offer.
What is not on this page
- Your own menu against the band, item by item. This page holds the market's prices, not yours.
- The venues behind the median, by name. A neighborhood median is a mixed bag with the labels taken off.
- Your windows laid over your block's coverage — which of your hours are contested and which are yours alone.
Your block, not the city.
This page gives you one median per neighborhood. Your report gives you the venues within walking distance of your door — what each one charges, item by item, and where your menu sits against them.
- Every venue within walking distance, with its happy hour days, window and prices.
- Your menu against theirs, item by item — where you're under, and where you're over.
- When each one starts and ends, so you can see the hour nobody near you is covering.
Built by hand, one venue at a time.