October 2026 · 13 independent restaurants
Average burger price in Chicago, IL: $16.95
We checked 13 independent restaurant menus across Chicago, Oak Park. The median burger costs $16.95. Prices run from $9.95 to $29.99. Chains are excluded, and every price links to the menu where we saw it.
Just added · all 13 checked today
$16.95
Median burger · 13 independents
$9.95–$29.99
Range, cheapest to priciest
2.5 lb
of Midwest region retail ground beef ($6.75/lb, Sep 2026) costs the same as the median burger
The restaurants
Every burger we checked in Chicago
Sorted from cheapest to priciest. Click a column to re-sort. The status column shows how fresh each price is.
| The Region | Chicago IL | Hamburger | $9.95 | Fresh · checked today |
| SALT burgers + fries | Chicago IL | Double Cheeseburgerlocal group with several locations; Jr. skipped as junior size | $10.25 | Fresh · checked today |
| Innjoy | Chicago IL | All-American Burger2 locations | $11.00 | Fresh · checked today |
| Fatso's Last Stand | Chicago IL | Double Fatso's w/ Cheesejunior skipped; 2 locations | $11.25 | Fresh · checked today |
| Terminal5 | Chicago IL | Hamburger | $12.00 | Fresh · checked today |
| McGee's Tavern & Grille | Chicago IL | Tavern Burger (8oz)restaurant's own menu page (SpotApps host); 3.99% service charge noted | $16.00 | Fresh · checked today |
| The Harding Tavern | Chicago IL | Classic Burger | $16.95 | Fresh · checked today |
| Butch McGuire's | Chicago IL | Classic Cheeseburger | $17.00 | Fresh · checked today |
| Moody's Pub | Chicago IL | Moodyburger | $17.00 | Fresh · checked today |
| Village Tap | Chicago IL | Cheeseburger | $17.00 | Fresh · checked today |
| Oak Park Brewing Co. | Oak Park IL | OPB Burgermini cheeseburger skipped | $17.00 | Fresh · checked today |
| The Loyalist | Chicago IL | The Loyalist OG Cheeseburger | $28.00 | Fresh · checked today |
| Gilt Bar | Chicago IL | Double Wagyu Cheeseburgeronly burger listed | $29.99 | Fresh · checked today |
13 restaurants · median $16.95 · Download CSV · Each link goes to the page where we saw the price.
How the status badges work
- Up $1.00 · 2 wks ago Down $0.50 · 3 days ago A later check found a different price than the one before it. Shown for 60 days after the check that found it.
- Holding · 4 wks The same price on at least two checks. The time shown is only the span we verified, from the first check at this price to the latest. We never assume a price held between checks.
- Fresh · checked today First checked today, so there's nothing to compare against yet.
- New this week Added in the last 7 days, one check so far.
- Checked 3 wks ago One check, older than a week. Stale · checked 2 mos ago Not re-checked in 45+ days.
Badges are worked out from each price's first-seen and last-checked dates, then recalculated in your browser against today's date. Hover over or tap a badge to see the exact dates.
The cost side
Beef costs for Chicago
BLS publishes a Chicago-Naperville-Elgin index for "meats, poultry, fish, and eggs" (CUURS23ASAF112), but no beef-only or dollars-per-pound series at the metro level.
Ground beef, $/lb
Local meat prices (metro CPI)
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
How much is a burger in Chicago?
In our October 2026 check of 13 independent restaurants in the Chicago, IL area, the median burger price was $16.95. Prices ranged from $9.95 (The Region, Hamburger) to $29.99 (Gilt Bar, Double Wagyu Cheeseburger). Chains are excluded.
Where is the cheapest burger in Chicago in this index?
The three lowest prices we found: The Region in Chicago IL, Hamburger at $9.95; SALT burgers + fries in Chicago IL, Double Cheeseburger at $10.25; Innjoy in Chicago IL, All-American Burger at $11.00. Prices can change, so check the restaurant's menu before you go.
Are burgers more expensive in Chicago than in other metros?
Chicago's median is $16.95. The other metros we track: Providence $16.48; Boston $17.50; Sarasota–Tampa $14.95; New York $16.75; Los Angeles $10.25; Dallas–Fort Worth $9.99; Houston $10.00; Miami $14.50; Washington, DC $16.49; Atlanta $14.00; Philadelphia $12.25; Seattle $13.99. For a national reference, Toast's Menu Price Monitor reported a $14.80 median restaurant burger in September 2026 (source). That figure includes chains.
How do Chicago burger prices compare with beef prices?
BLS doesn't publish a ground beef price for individual metros. The closest public series is the Midwest region average retail price for 100% ground beef: $6.75/lb in September 2026. At that price, the median Chicago burger costs about the same as 2.5 lb of ground beef. The BLS Chicago-Naperville-Elgin index for meats, poultry, fish and eggs is up 38% since January 2019 (Sep 2026), compared with 41% for the U.S. city average.
Are restaurants in Chicago raising burger prices?
We can't say yet. Every Chicago price in the index has been checked once (Oct 17, 2026), and the Price Pulse only compares a restaurant's price with its own previous check. It will show raises, cuts and holds after the next monthly check.
How are these prices collected?
We read each independent restaurant's own website, menu PDF or ordering page and record the cheapest standard full-size beef burger. Kids, happy-hour, late-night and slider prices are skipped, and so are menus we couldn't verify. Every row links to its source. See the methodology.
How often is this page updated?
Menus are re-checked monthly, and each price shows a status badge (New, Holding, Up, Down, Stale) based on its check dates. The current prices were checked Oct 17, 2026 to Oct 17, 2026.