Going outside with your boo does not have to wreck the budget, especially if you live in one of a handful of cities where dinner, drinks, a movie, and a ride home still come in close to $100.
A new analysis from Neon Designs, which was shared with Baller Alert, ranks Fort Worth, Texas, as the cheapest major U.S. city for a date night, with the study estimating a full evening at $109.16. The ranking compared date night costs across 50 major cities using the price of a meal for two, one domestic beer, two movie tickets, two soft drinks, and a 5 km taxi ride.
Those date night costs matter at a time when simply eating outside the house continues to get more expensive. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, prices for food away from home increased 3.4 percent from August 2025 to August 2026, while full-service meal prices rose 3.5 percent over that period.
According to the Neon Designs study, Fort Worth earned the No. 1 position largely because of its $55 meal for two, the lowest dinner price among the 50 cities analyzed. The study priced a domestic beer at $5.50, two movie tickets at $31.24, two soft drinks at $5.72, and the taxi portion at $11.70.
Detroit came in second with total date night costs of $112.09. Per the study, a meal for two was priced at $63, while two movie tickets cost $24. The remaining basket included an $8 domestic beer, $6.34 for two soft drinks, and $10.75 for the taxi ride.
Louisville landed in third at $114.67. According to Neon Designs, its $72.50 dinner was more expensive than Fort Worth or Detroit, but Louisville had the cheapest movie tickets in the entire ranking at $22 for two. The study also put two soft drinks at just $4.42, its lowest price among all 50 cities.
Albuquerque followed in fourth at $115.43, while San Antonio completed the top five at $116.73, according to the ranking. Tulsa ranked sixth at $117.94, Bakersfield came in seventh at $119.55, Milwaukee placed eighth at $121.06, El Paso ranked ninth at $121.33, and Arlington closed out the top ten at $122.57.
Texas clearly had the biggest presence near the top. According to the study, Fort Worth, San Antonio, El Paso, and Arlington all ranked among the ten cities with the lowest date night costs.
The gap becomes much more noticeable when those prices are compared with cities on the other side of the ranking. The survey placed New York as the most expensive city analyzed, with the same date night basket costing $215.50. That is $106.34 more than Fort Worth. Based on the study’s figures, four similar nights out would create a price difference of more than $425.
Dinner accounted for much of that New York gap. According to the research, a meal for two in New York was priced at $140 compared with $55 in Fort Worth.
California also showed how dramatically date night costs can shift within the same state. The data ranked Bakersfield seventh nationally at $119.55, while the study priced the same night at $184.58 in San Francisco and $186.35 in Los Angeles. That puts Bakersfield $65.03 below San Francisco and $66.80 below Los Angeles.
The research is better viewed as a snapshot of a specific night out rather than the total cost of dating in each city. Neon Designs said its calculations were built from prices collected from Numbeo. Numbeo describes its cost of living database as combining crowdsourced price reports with market data collection and statistical validation, and its methodology allows the age of underlying city data to vary depending on available contributions.
The Neon Designs basket also does not attempt to capture every expense couples could encounter, such as tips, taxes, parking, additional drinks, or other entertainment. Instead, it offers one standardized way to compare date night costs across major cities using the same five categories.
In comments supplied with the study, Austin Colasanti, identified by Neon Designs as its CEO, said the overall total can matter more than any single expense.
“What stands out from the ranking is that an affordable date night isn’t necessarily about finding the cheapest option for every part of the evening. Some cities have slightly higher restaurant or transport costs but make up for it with much cheaper entertainment, which can bring the overall bill down considerably.
“Louisville is a great example of that. Dinner for two isn’t the cheapest among the leading cities, but it has the lowest cinema and soft drink costs in the entire study. It shows how the smaller expenses across an evening can make a surprisingly big difference to the final bill.
“Texas is another interesting takeaway. Four of the ten cheapest cities are in the state, including Fort Worth in first place, despite the cities varying considerably in size. That suggests affordable dating isn’t limited to smaller destinations where you might naturally expect prices to be lower.
“The difference between the top and bottom of the ranking is also difficult to ignore. The same type of date night costs more than $100 extra in New York than it does in Fort Worth. For couples who go out regularly, a gap of that size can add up to a substantial amount over the course of a year.”
