The NYC nightlife guide: from happy hour to last call, by the numbers
A night out in NYC runs on two clocks: happy hour, most often from 4pm, and club nights that typically start around 10pm. In the next 30 days we list 375 party nights at 107 venues, 55% in Brooklyn, 38% in Manhattan and 7% in Queens, with tickets from $2 (typically $33), and 812 happy hours with drinks from $3.
Most nightlife guides are a list of places someone likes. This one is built from what we track every day: the happy hours bars publish on their own sites and the club nights sold on the ticket pages. Every number below is computed from that data and updates daily.
Read it in order: how the night runs, where to go, what it costs, and the rules that catch visitors out. Updated Oct 30, 2026.
Coming up this week
Fri, Oct 30 · 4pm
Rivo Day & Night Full Halloween Venue Takeover
Superior Ingredients · Williamsburg
Fri, Oct 30 · 5pm
1 Hotel Rooftop Halloween 10/30
1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge · Brooklyn Heights
Fri, Oct 30 · 6pm
MIDNIGHTS - TAYLOR SWIFT DANCE PARTY - EARLY VERSION
DROM · East Village
Fri, Oct 30 · 7pm
Xanadu x Choke Hole x Function "WITCHSLAP" (skate + drag wrestling + dance party + concert)
Xanadu · Bushwick
Fri, Oct 30 · 7pm
AM.RADIO Night Time Café
car part time · Williamsburg
Fri, Oct 30 · 7pm
NEW YORK NIGHT TRAIN 21ST ANNUAL HAUNTED HOP: Devil's Night Edition
Knockdown Center · Maspeth
How a night out runs
Start early. The most common happy-hour start on our list is 4pm, and 61% of the bars run it until 7pm or later. Happy hours on right now shows the ones running as you read this.
Then the party. The typical club night starts around 10pm and 65% start at 10pm or later; bars and clubs can serve until 4am. 73 bars on our list run a second, late-night happy hour (reverse happy hour).
Saturday is the biggest night with 174 parties in the next 30 days, then Friday (146); Monday is the quietest (1). Every night has its own page: parties tonight, this weekend and every party.
Where to go
Brooklyn has 207 of the nights, Manhattan 143 and Queens 25. The neighborhoods with the most are Bushwick (96), Williamsburg (50), Chelsea (34), Lower East Side (27), Gowanus (18) and East Village (17); the table below adds the happy hours in each.
The venues with the most nights are Public Records (17), Somewhere Nowhere NYC (17), SILO Brooklyn (15), 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge (14) and Signal (12). The full ranking is in the best clubs in NYC, with Brooklyn and Manhattan on their own. For a neighborhood, see the best neighborhoods for nightlife.
By sound: house (101), latin (41), reggaeton (37), techno (33), pop (27) and disco (22). Every genre has a page.
What it costs
The typical cheapest happy-hour drink on our list is $7 and the cheapest is $3 (the cheapest happy hours). Club tickets start at $2; the typical lowest price is $33, and 45% of priced nights cost $30 or less. 16 nights are free (free parties).
The full budget, with tax and tip, is in how much a night out costs in NYC.
Weekends, late nights and the week
359 bars on our list run a happy hour on Saturday or Sunday (weekend happy hours). Midweek is cheaper and easier: trivia nights fill Monday to Thursday, and Thursday night parties are where the week starts for many.
What is coming up this weekend is in things to do in NYC this weekend; for the holidays, December in NYC.
Rules to know
Every night here is 21 and up unless the listing says otherwise, and the door checks a government photo ID; visitors from outside North America should bring a passport. Bars and clubs can serve until 4am (what time bars close), and the subway runs all night.
Ticket prices on this page are the lowest we saw on each seller's page when we last checked it (most nights sell on DICE, which shows the price with fees). Drinks inside are extra: menu prices in NYC do not include the 8.875% sales tax, and the tip is a dollar or more a drink.
Drinking on the street is not allowed (can you drink in public in NYC), and happy hour itself has its own rules in New York (is happy hour legal).
Neighborhoods ranked by nights out
| Neighborhood | Party nights | Venues | Happy hours we track | Cheapest happy-hour drink |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bushwick | 96 | 19 | 18 | $5 |
| Williamsburg | 50 | 16 | 51 | $4 |
| Chelsea | 34 | 7 | 24 | $6 |
| Lower East Side | 27 | 10 | 30 | $5 |
| Gowanus | 18 | 2 | 4 | $6 |
| East Village | 17 | 4 | 45 | $5 |
| Bed-Stuy | 15 | 3 | 11 | $5 |
| Brooklyn Heights | 14 | 1 | 2 | none listed |
| Long Island City | 12 | 2 | 9 | $6 |
| Midtown | 9 | 1 | 50 | $4 |
| Financial District | 8 | 3 | 25 | $6 |
| Garment District | 8 | 1 | 0 | none listed |
| Chinatown | 7 | 3 | 6 | $8 |
| Ridgewood | 7 | 3 | 9 | $5 |
| Fort Greene | 6 | 3 | 8 | $5 |
Counted on Oct 30, 2026. Party nights are the published nights on the site; happy hours are the bars we track in the same neighborhood, with the lowest drink price their own sites list.
Questions
Where is the best nightlife in NYC?
By nights on the calendar, Brooklyn: it has 55% of the party nights we list for the next 30 days, led by Bushwick, Williamsburg and Gowanus.
What time does nightlife start in NYC?
Happy hour most often starts at 4pm; club nights typically start around 10pm. Bars and clubs can serve until 4am.
What is the best night to go out in NYC?
Saturday has the most parties on our list (174 in the next 30 days), then Friday (146).
How expensive is NYC nightlife?
Happy-hour drinks on our list typically start at $7; club tickets typically start at $33 with fees. Add 8.875% tax and the tip on drinks.
Is NYC nightlife 21+?
Almost all of it: 99% of the nights we list with an age limit are 21+; our 18+ clubs guide lists the exceptions.
How we put this together
Computed on Oct 30, 2026 from the 375 published party nights on the site for the next 30 days and the 812 happy hours we track (each read from the bar's own site), and recomputed every day.
Something wrong or out of date? Tell us and we will check it.