Fifteen bucks for a cocktail. That’s the number driving a lot of Gen Z back home on a Saturday night. Fortune lays out the math on what they’re calling a generational “spending hangover”: going out costs so much now that a single round with friends can wipe out a chunk of the week’s fun money. So they stay in.
The old map said your twenties were for cheap beers and packed bars. Scratch that. When drinks jumped and rent ate the rest, the map stopped matching the ground. What used to be a $30 night out is a lot closer to $80, and a whole cohort did the arithmetic and picked the couch instead.
A $15 cocktail times two, plus the Uber there and back, and you’re $60 lighter before anyone’s said hello. That’s the real reason the young crowd is staying home, and it’s the same math bars, clubs, and casual restaurants are watching bleed their weekend traffic. If you host instead of going out, you’re not being cheap. You’re front-running a whole industry that hasn’t figured out its prices chased its customers off.
A night out with friends used to be the cheap part of being young. Now the drink costs $15 and the round of four costs $60, so a lot of Gen Z is staying home and calling it a personality.
The bar didn’t get more fun. It got more expensive, and the generation that was told to just cut back on lattes is now cutting back on friends. The people still selling “you’re isolated because you lack discipline” might want to check the tab.
Sources: Fortune · fortune.com
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