The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic may have caused less of an increase in drinking than conventional wisdom indicates, or Americans may be less candid with survey teams about their drinking.
About 6.9% of the working-age Americans in a typical state acknowledged in 2023 that they were heavy drinkers.
The median was down from 7.2% in 2018, before the COVID-19 pandemic appeared, according to new data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey program.
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The BRFSS team defines heavy drinkers as men who have more than 14 drinks per week and women who have more than seven drinks per week.
The reported heavy-drinking rate ranges from less than 4%, in Maryland, to more than 9%, in six states.
For a look at the five states with the highest rates of working-age adults who reported drinking heavily, see the gallery above. For data for all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, see the table below.
Methods: The CDC breaks down drinking data for people under 18, people ages 65 and older, and four age groups from 18 through 64. We came up with a heavy-drinking prevalence rate for working-age people by averaging the data for the age groups in that age range. One benefit of using that approach is that it filters out the effects of the aging of the population, or other population trends, in a given state.
At press time, the CDC had not included data from Kentucky and Pennsylvania in the 2023 BRFSS results.
The impact: Researchers tend not to distinguish between binge drinking and regular heavy drinking when analyzing the impact of alcohol use on insurance claims.
All kinds of problem drinking combined increase average annual health care expenditures for a commercial plan member by $14,918, according to a 2022 study conducted by a team led by a researcher at Carelon Research, an Elevance subsidiary.
About half of the claims related to excessive alcohol use are due to an increase in the risk that a plan member will have heart disease or a stroke.
In recent years, employers have been trying to improve mental health and addiction treatment services, both to help workers and meet federal and state requirements. Those programs could be helping to reduce the burden caused by heavy drinking. Another possibility is that marijuana legalization programs in some states could be crowding out some use of alcohol.
| Adults Ages 18-64 Classified as Heavy Drinkers | |||
| Heavy drinkers are men who have more than 14 drinks per week and women who have more than seven drinks per week. | |||
| 2018 | 2023 | Change, in percentage points | |
| Alabama | 6.36% | 6.86% | +0.50 |
| Alaska | 7.58% | 9.73% | +2.15 |
| Arizona | 6.25% | 5.98% | -0.27 |
| Arkansas | 6.15% | 6.60% | +0.45 |
| California | 6.18% | 5.16% | -1.02 |
| Colorado | 7.78% | 7.22% | -0.56 |
| Connecticut | 6.82% | 6.84% | +0.02 |
| Delaware | 7.00% | 6.70% | -0.30 |
| District of Columbia | 8.25% | 8.50% | +0.25 |
| Florida | 8.48% | 7.04% | -1.44 |
| Georgia | 6.44% | 6.58% | +0.14 |
| Hawaii | 9.70% | 9.62% | -0.08 |
| Idaho | 7.23% | 6.34% | -0.89 |
| Illinois | 7.92% | 5.78% | -2.14 |
| Indiana | 7.10% | 5.82% | -1.28 |
| Iowa | 9.64% | 8.34% | -1.30 |
| Kansas | 6.44% | 7.56% | +1.12 |
| Kentucky | 6.90% | NA | - |
| Louisiana | 7.32% | 7.54% | +0.22 |
| Maine | 8.90% | 9.16% | +0.26 |
| Maryland | 4.98% | 3.90% | -1.08 |
| Massachusetts | 8.40% | 6.54% | -1.86 |
| Michigan | 7.18% | 6.76% | -0.42 |
| Minnesota | 7.42% | 6.60% | -0.82 |
| Mississippi | 5.56% | 7.08% | +1.52 |
| Missouri | 9.30% | 6.88% | -2.42 |
| Montana | 8.14% | 9.36% | +1.22 |
| Nebraska | 7.92% | 6.86% | -1.06 |
| Nevada | 6.38% | 9.10% | +2.73 |
| New Hampshire | 8.04% | 9.10% | +1.06 |
| New Jersey | 5.67% | 4.56% | -1.11 |
| New Mexico | 5.62% | 6.43% | +0.81 |
| New York | 6.28% | 5.40% | -0.88 |
| North Carolina | 7.24% | 5.90% | -1.34 |
| North Dakota | 8.30% | 7.06% | -1.24 |
| Ohio | 7.24% | 7.24% | 0 |
| Oklahoma | 4.78% | 5.42% | +0.65 |
| Oregon | 8.76% | 7.00% | -1.76 |
| Pennsylvania | 6.90% | NA | 0 |
| Puerto Rico | 6.43% | 5.03% | -1.39 |
| Rhode Island | 7.52% | 7.55% | +0.03 |
| South Carolina | 7.20% | 7.24% | +0.04 |
| South Dakota | 9.70% | 7.96% | -1.74 |
| Tennessee | 7.20% | 6.90% | -0.30 |
| Texas | 6.98% | 6.42% | -0.56 |
| Utah | 4.00% | 4.24% | +0.24 |
| Vermont | 8.26% | 8.26% | 0 |
| Virginia | 6.50% | 6.04% | -0.46 |
| Washington | 6.42% | 6.68% | +0.26 |
| West Virginia | 5.12% | 6.60% | +1.48 |
| Wisconsin | 8.06% | 8.22% | +0.16 |
| Wyoming | 7.56% | 7.16% | -0.40 |
| MEDIAN | 7.20% | 6.86% | -0.34 |
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Allison Bell
Allison Bell, a senior reporter at ThinkAdvisor and BenefitsPRO, previously was an associate editor at National Underwriter Life & Health. She has a bachelor's degree in economics from Washington University in St. Louis and a master's degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She can be reached through X at @Think_Allison.
