Do You Live in One of America’s Drunkest Cities?
Do you live in one of America’s Drunkest Cities? A new study by real estate data company Clever has the scoop.
According to the study, titled The Drunkest Cities in America: 2022 Data, Milwaukee is the the booziest city in the U.S., followed by New Orleans, Portland, Denver and Providence, R.I. Rounding out the top 10 are Boston, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Austin.
The study shows Denver to be the best city for craft beer, Las Vegas for happy hour, and San Francisco for cocktails (based on Google Trends data). Unfortunately, Cleveland has the highest rate of alcohol-impaired driving deaths at 40.4% — 49.6% higher than the national rate of 27%. Miami has the lowest rate of alcohol-impaired driving deaths at just 12.5%.
The most sober city in the study’s top 50? Memphis, followed by Birmingham, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Salt Lake City.
The America’s Drunkest Cities study analyzed data from the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, U.S. Census Bureau, Walk Score, Expatistan.com, Yelp, and Google Trends.
The weighted rankings evaluated various criteria, including:
These metrics not only measure the overall popularity of drinking (number of bars, breweries, etc.) but also overall safety surrounding the consumption of alcohol in each city. For example, the data included a metric for walkability because cities where walking is a more accessible mode of transportation can facilitate less drunk driving (in theory).
Other findings: