National Data Ranks NH, VT in Top 10 States for Alcohol Consumption
August 23, 2017
In April, the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) published its 108th surveillance report, Apparent Per Capita Alcohol Consumption: National, State, and Regional Trends, 1977–2015. This report is the official release of 2015 data for alcohol consumption across the United States in those aged 14 and older.
Our three states rank as follows for estimates of overall alcohol consumption per 100,000 residents (aged 14 and over) during 2015:
| National Rank | State | All beverages |
| Gallons per capita | ||
| 1 | New Hampshire | 4.72 |
| 6 | Vermont | 3.08 |
| 13 | Maine | 2.77 |
The report also breaks out alcohol sales by type (beer, wine, and spirits). Rankings for each of those types are below:
BEER
| National Rank | State | Beer |
| Gallons per capita | ||
1 | New Hampshire | 1.88 |
4 | Vermont | 1.57 |
8 | Maine | 1.37 |
WINE
| National Rank | State | Wine |
| Gallons per capita | ||
3 | New Hampshire | 0.88 |
4 | Vermont | 0.78 |
21 | Maine | 0.43 |
SPIRITS
| National Rank | State | Spirits |
| Gallons per capita | ||
1 | New Hampshire | 1.96 |
15 | Maine | 0.97 |
39 | Vermont | 0.73 |
Highlights of the Report:
- The state of New Hampshire consumes more gallons of alcohol than every other state in the nation.
- All three states consumed more gallons of alcohol than the national average (2.32 gallons per capita) in 2015. The national average has continued its descent since its highest rate in 1981 (2.76 gallons per capita), though this most recent data represents no change from 2014 data.
- Alcohol consumption increased in 30 states (including Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont), decreased in 19 states, and remained unchanged in only two states.
- The authors of the report do note that estimates in New Hampshire may be inflated by cross-border sales to buyers from neighboring states.
- Consumption was gathered by alcohol sales in each state; the authors detail the methods used in the full report (link below).
The report is available online: https://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/surveillance108/CONS15.htm
You can view 2015 data by state here: https://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/surveillance108/tab2_15.htm