Here Are the 20 Drunkest Cities in America, Ranked
Source: Complex
By Amanda Wicks
May 18, 2016
It’s no secret Americans love their alcohol. Just look at Anheuser-Busch’s attempt to rebrand Budweiser by renaming it ‘America’ for six months. But there are some cities that enjoy drinking much more than others. A new report released Monday listed the 20 drunkest cities in the U.S., and many are located within a stone’s throw from one another.
The Midwest has a penchant for booze, according to the study published by 24/7 Wall St. Seventeen out of 20 cities on the list are from the region with 11 cities located in Wisconsin alone. Appleton, Oshkosh-Neenah, Green Bay, and Madison make up the top four drunkest cities with La Crosse-Onalaska, Fond du Lac, Eau Claire, Wausau, Sheboygan, Racine, Janesville and Milwaukee rounding out the rest of Wisconsin’s big drinkers. In total, the site looked at 381 metro areas to examine the percentage of adults who report drinking to excess. Here’s how they ranked:
20. Corvallis, OR
19. Iowa City, IA
18. Lincoln, NE
17. Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI
16. Janesville-Beloit, WI
15. Racine, WI
14. Grand Forks, ND-MN
13. Missoula, MT
12. Sheboygan, WI
11. Wausau, WI
10. Mankato-North Mankato, MN
9. Eau Claire, WI
8. Ames, IA
7. Fond du Lac, WI
6. La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN
5. Fargo, ND-MN
4. Madison, WI
3. Green Bay, WI
2. Oshkosh-Neenah, WI
1. Appleton, WI
Appleton, aka the drunkest city in America, boasts a binge drinking rate of 26.8 percent of the population. By comparison, the national rate for binge drinking is 18 percent of the population. Binge drinking also differs between men and women. For men, it takes five drinks or more to hit that designation, whereas it’s four drinks or more for women, the Center for Disease Control reports.
In addition to ranking cities by binge drinking rates, the study also examined how many bars were located within city limits, which can often factor into higher percentages of excessive drinking. Number six on the list, LaCross-Onalaska, had more bars per capita than any other city in the U.S. There were 6.9 bars per every 10,000 people in the city while the average city only has 1.6.
As for Madison, it’s not the first time the city has earned an alcohol-related title. In 2015, the University of Wisconsin-Madison placed third on Princeton Review’s list of Top Party Schools in America.
Sarah Van Orman, executive director of University Health Services at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told Complex over the phone, “I don’t think any of us that work in health in Wisconsin are surprised by this. There is other data that would support it. Wisconsin has the highest binge drinking rate among all adults in the country. Not just among students, but among our adult population in the state.”
To combat binge drinking, UWM has set about creating and implementing several programs to help educate students. Van Orman explained how it was less about getting the students to not drink, and more about making them aware of alcohol’s effect and how it can contribute to negative climates. “We’ve done a lot of things differently now than we did five years ago. All students have to do an online problem that gives them a basic understanding.” The university requires first-year students to complete an hours-long course within their first few weeks on campus. It’s all part of a mission to change the climate that looks upon binge drinking favorably, or at least neutrally, to understand how it impacts both individuals and communities.
As for the rest of us? There’s more than enough evidence that we’re doing our share of binge drinking elsewhere, as well.