A stock analysis company called Insider Monkey has done a study that ranks the “drunkest” counties in the 50 U.S. states.
According to Insider Monkey, the booze industry in the U.S. (they call it the “alcohol beverage industry) is worth $270 billion a year, with the latest figures coming from 2022. Of the total alcohol sold, 44 percent represents beer and hard seltzer, 40 percent of sales are from distilled spirits, and the rest is down to wine. In addition to the total sales, states and localities make a whopping $70 billion in tax revenue from liquor sales.
The industry also employs about four million people. It’s a huge part of the American economy, but there is a heavy price to pay for those who drink excessively. In public conversation Americans are used to referring to “alcohol and drugs” as if these were separate, but they are not. Alcohol is a drug by definition, and it is also a poison. Drunken regret is not the only damage it causes; the substance contributes to organ damage, heart attacks, and much more.
Of course, drinking too much in one sitting can also give a person acute alcohol poisoning.
Yet because the substance has long been socially acceptable, people who would never use what they call “drugs” instead take in a liquid drug without paying any social penalty. According to the Centers for Disease Control, drinking alcohol contributes to 178,000 deaths every year in the U.S. The CDC says drinking shortens a person’s lifespan by 24 years on average, though of course that average is calculated by including the heaviest chronic drinkers alongside those who imbibe only occasionally or modestly.
It is also estimated that booze costs the economy $249 billion a year in legal expenses in the criminal justice system, property damage, car crashes, loss of work productivity, and more. Of that figure, $100 billion is represented by payments from Medicaid and Medicare for the medical consequences of excess drinking. That’s our tax dollars, by the way.
So, which counties in the U.S. states are the drunkest? There isn’t room to list them all, but here are some highlights from the survey.
-Ozaukee County, Wisconsin came in at number one with an excess drinking rate of 29 percent
-Mercer County, North Dakota hit number five with an excess drinking rate of 25 percent
At the other end of the scale, Summit County, Utah is a comparative teetotaling region with an excess drinking rate of 15 percent. But remember, these are the 50 drunkest counties, so only those counties considered to have an abnormally high rate of alcohol consumption are included.
