The US States Where Residents Spend The Most And Least On Alcohol

From climate and culture to affordability and regulation, alcohol consumption is shaped by a wide range of socio-economic factors. This is one of the reasons why there is such a marked difference when it comes to the popularity of alcohol from one state to the next. And the variance we're talking about isn't a few percentage points — residents of some U.S. states spend twice the amount of money on booze than residents in other states. On top of the list is Alaska, where the annual per-capita spend on alcohol is $1,250. Alaska is followed by Wyoming and Colorado, the only other states where the per-capita spend tops the $1200 mark. Meanwhile, propping up the list is Utah, where the average adult spent just $607 on booze throughout the year (they're likely spending all their money at the large number of soda shops instead).

In terms of total money spent on booze, California comfortably tops the list with an outflow touching $30 billion, followed by Texas, where the liquor bill for 2024 was a touch under $22 billion. At the other end of the spectrum was North Dakota, where the total expenditure on alcohol in 2024 was under half a billion dollars. These numbers can be attributed to the extremely high or low population of these states rather than just the popularity of alcohol.

These findings were part of a study by Smart Asset, which used data from the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis for 2024 and 2023 to analyze alcohol consumption patterns in America. In total, Americans spent $228 billion on alcoholic beverages for private consumption in 2024. The data only includes alcohol purchased for off-premises consumption, and the spending is averaged out across the number of people aged 21 and over.

To be fair, while the per-capita numbers can be used as broad indicators of the drinking culture of a particular state, digging into the data a little further reveals there are factors at play beyond individual consumption. Let's look at Alaska, for example. Residents of The Last Frontier on Reddit were not surprised by the findings of this survey, attributing the high consumption to there being very little to do in winters, or if you weren't into outdoor activities. Having said that, this list does not account for the fact that Alaska is the most expensive state to buy whiskey (a bottle of Jack Daniel's Old No. 7 Black costs $32 dollars in Alaska, as opposed to just $15 dollars in California).

The story is different when you take money out of the equation. Alaska is nowhere near the top when it comes to states that consume the most amount of alcohol per capita. This list is topped by New Hampshire, with Alaska only ranking 10th.

Meanwhile, Utah residents attributed the low alcohol spend to factors beyond their control. "Low rates for Utah are because they have state controlled liquor stores and don't allow alcohol shipments into the state," one Redditor wrote. Another pointed at the lack of quality options at the state-controlled stores. "The selections are awful," they posted. "I walked into a state liquor store after moving here and was disgusted by their wine selection. Why would I pay a top shelf price for a bottom shelf bottle?" These factors not only bring Utah's numbers down, they also drive numbers up in neighboring Arizona, Nevada and Wyoming, with several posters on the Reddit thread confirming that they regularly crossed state borders to stock up on booze.