October 2026 · 12 independent restaurants
Average burger price in Washington, DC: $16.49
We checked 12 independent restaurant menus across Washington, Arlington, Washington DC area. The median burger costs $16.49. Prices run from $8.29 to $29.00. Chains are excluded, and every price links to the menu where we saw it.
Just added · all 12 checked today
$16.49
Median burger · 12 independents
$8.29–$29.00
Range, cheapest to priciest
2.5 lb
of South region retail ground beef ($6.50/lb, Sep 2026) costs the same as the median burger
The restaurants
Every burger we checked in Washington, DC
Sorted from cheapest to priciest. Click a column to re-sort. The status column shows how fresh each price is.
| All About Burger | Washington DC area | Hamburgerlocal group, several locations | $8.29 | Fresh · checked today |
| Swizzler | Washington DC | Swizzler Signature Cheeseburgerlocal group with several locations | $9.50 | Fresh · checked today |
| Ireland's Four Courts | Arlington VA | Four Courts Burgermini burgers skipped | $13.00 | Fresh · checked today |
| Trusty's Bar & Grill | Washington DC | Trusty's Burger | $14.00 | Fresh · checked today |
| Dacha Beer Garden | Washington DC | Skinny Burgerlocal 2-location group | $14.00 | Fresh · checked today |
| Easy Tiger Tavern | Washington DC | Smash Burger | $16.00 | Fresh · checked today |
| Mr. Smith's of Georgetown | Washington DC | Mr. Smith's Famous Burger | $16.99 | Fresh · checked today |
| McNamara's Pub | Arlington VA | Bacon Cheddar Burgercheapest beef burger listed (tie with Mushroom & Swiss) | $17.00 | Fresh · checked today |
| Walters | Washington DC | Cheeseburger | $17.19 | Fresh · checked today |
| TallBoy | Washington DC | Smash Burger | $18.00 | Fresh · checked today |
| O'Malley's Pub | Arlington VA | O'Malley's Smash Tavern Burger | $18.00 | Fresh · checked today |
| Le Diplomate | Washington DC | Burger Américain | $29.00 | Fresh · checked today |
12 restaurants · median $16.49 · 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 Washington, DC
BLS publishes a Washington-Arlington-Alexandria index for "meats, poultry, fish, and eggs" (CUURS35ASAF112), 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 Washington, DC?
In our October 2026 check of 12 independent restaurants in the Washington, DC area, the median burger price was $16.49. Prices ranged from $8.29 (All About Burger, Hamburger) to $29.00 (Le Diplomate, Burger Américain). Chains are excluded.
Where is the cheapest burger in Washington, DC in this index?
The three lowest prices we found: All About Burger in Washington DC area, Hamburger at $8.29; Swizzler in Washington DC, Swizzler Signature Cheeseburger at $9.50; Ireland's Four Courts in Arlington VA, Four Courts Burger at $13.00. Prices can change, so check the restaurant's menu before you go.
Are burgers more expensive in Washington, DC than in other metros?
Washington, DC's median is $16.49. The other metros we track: Providence $16.48; Boston $17.50; Sarasota–Tampa $14.95; New York $16.75; Los Angeles $10.25; Chicago $16.95; Dallas–Fort Worth $9.99; Houston $10.00; Miami $14.50; 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 Washington, DC burger prices compare with beef prices?
BLS doesn't publish a ground beef price for individual metros. The closest public series is the South region average retail price for 100% ground beef: $6.50/lb in September 2026. At that price, the median Washington, DC burger costs about the same as 2.5 lb of ground beef. The BLS Washington-Arlington-Alexandria index for meats, poultry, fish and eggs is up 31% since January 2019 (Sep 2026), compared with 41% for the U.S. city average.
Are restaurants in Washington, DC raising burger prices?
We can't say yet. Every Washington, DC 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.