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Monday, Jul 13, 2026

Does eating out cost an average of $28 in Denver?

Cassis Tingley, The Colorado Sun
no

A meal at an inexpensive restaurant costs an average of $20 for one person in Denver, according to Numbeo, a  global, crowdsourced cost of living database.

Eating in costs roughly $5.43 in Denver on average, according to Numbeo estimates. Nationally, eating in costs $4.62 per meal on average while eating out costs $20 per meal.

The most expensive U.S. cities to eat out in are Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, which both average $30 per meal.

Food prices are also increasing, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows. In the past year, grocery prices in the Denver area rose 1.1%, compared with a 2.9% increase for away-from-home food. Fruits and vegetables saw the sharpest increase among groceries, at 4%.

In cities across the U.S., at-home food prices rose 2.7% in the past year and away-from-home prices rose 3.5%.

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Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by newsrooms in the Gigafact network.

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The Colorado Sun is a journalist-founded, award-winning and nonprofit news outlet based in Denver that strives to cover all of Colorado so that our state — our community — can better understand itself. In this way, we believe we can contribute to a more vibrant, informed and whole Colorado. We are committed to fact-based, in-depth and nonpartisan journalism. We cover everything from politics and culture to the outdoor industry and education. Our goal is to produce the best possible journalism. We do that with the help of you, our readers, and community backers. We launched on Sept. 10, 2018.

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