US states by apparent beer consumption per person 14 and over
New Hampshire had the highest apparent beer consumption per person 14 and over of 51 states in 2016, at 1.86 US gallons of ethanol per person. Utah had the lowest, at 0.63 US gallons of ethanol per person. The median was 1.14 US gallons of ethanol per person and the figure for the United States was 1.09 US gallons of ethanol per person. Source: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health.
Map of states, 2016
- Under 0.96
- 0.96 to 1
- 1 to 1.1
- 1.1 to 1.2
- 1.2 to 1.3
- 1.3 and over
All states, 2016
Full ranking
| Rank | States | 2016 | Change on 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Hampshire | 1.86 | -0.6% |
| 2 | Montana | 1.62 | -0.8% |
| 3 | Vermont | 1.56 | +0.1% |
| 4 | North Dakota | 1.51 | -4.7% |
| 5 | South Dakota | 1.46 | -1.7% |
| 6 | Nevada | 1.42 | +2.3% |
| 7 | Wisconsin | 1.36 | -2.1% |
| 8 | Maine | 1.36 | -0.8% |
| 9 | Pennsylvania | 1.31 | -0.3% |
| 10 | Texas | 1.3 | +1.6% |
| 11 | Nebraska | 1.3 | -3% |
| 12 | Iowa | 1.3 | -0.6% |
| 13 | Hawaii | 1.29 | +0.2% |
| 14 | Mississippi | 1.28 | -2% |
| 15 | Louisiana | 1.25 | -1.7% |
| 16 | Oregon | 1.24 | +0.9% |
| 17 | Delaware | 1.2 | +1.2% |
| 18 | West Virginia | 1.19 | -0.9% |
| 19 | Wyoming | 1.18 | -5.1% |
| 20 | South Carolina | 1.18 | -2.6% |
| 21 | Ohio | 1.16 | -1.2% |
| 22 | Missouri | 1.16 | -1.5% |
| 23 | Minnesota | 1.15 | -0.7% |
| 24 | Alaska | 1.15 | +3.2% |
| 25 | Colorado | 1.14 | +1.8% |
| 26 | Arizona | 1.14 | -2.3% |
| 27 | District of Columbia | 1.12 | -1.2% |
| 28 | Illinois | 1.12 | -0.8% |
| 29 | New Mexico | 1.1 | +8.2% |
| 30 | Alabama | 1.09 | -1.8% |
| 31 | Florida | 1.09 | -1.8% |
| 32 | Oklahoma | 1.05 | -1.6% |
| 33 | North Carolina | 1.05 | -0.6% |
| 34 | Michigan | 1.03 | +4.9% |
| 35 | Tennessee | 1.02 | -1.2% |
| 36 | Kansas | 1.02 | -0.8% |
| 37 | Georgia | 1.01 | -0.2% |
| 38 | Virginia | 1 | -0.6% |
| 39 | Idaho | 0.99 | -4.2% |
| 40 | Indiana | 0.98 | -0.1% |
| 41 | Kentucky | 0.96 | -2.3% |
| 42 | California | 0.96 | -3.4% |
| 43 | Washington | 0.96 | -1.3% |
| 44 | Massachusetts | 0.95 | -1.5% |
| 45 | Rhode Island | 0.94 | -1.9% |
| 46 | Arkansas | 0.93 | -3.5% |
| 47 | New York | 0.91 | +0.4% |
| 48 | Connecticut | 0.85 | +0.2% |
| 49 | Maryland | 0.83 | -2.4% |
| 50 | New Jersey | 0.83 | -1.2% |
| 51 | Utah | 0.63 | -3.4% |
Other periods
About this ranking
Gallons of pure ethanol from beer sold during the year, per person aged 14 and over.
More on how it is measured
- Apparent consumption: alcoholic beverage sales, tax receipts or shipments reported by the states or by industry sources, converted to gallons of pure ethanol with fixed alcohol contents (since 1977: 4.5% by volume for beer, 12.9% for wine and 41.1% for spirits) and divided by the resident population aged 14 and over (Census Bureau estimates).
- Alcohol drunk by tourists or bought by residents of neighbouring states counts where it was sold, which raises the figures of states such as New Hampshire and Nevada and of the District of Columbia; home production and illicit alcohol are not counted.
One US gallon is 3.785 litres. Different from the WHO indicator alcohol_consumption_per_capita, which is in litres of pure alcohol per person aged 15 and over, includes WHO estimates of unrecorded alcohol and uses three-year averages. NIAAA revises earlier years when the Census Bureau revises its population estimates (the 2024 file changed 2020 to 2023).
Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the states are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.
How to cite
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Alcohol Epidemiologic Data System. Apparent per capita alcohol consumption by State and type of beverage (AEDS data file pcyr1970), beer, gallons of ethanol per capita age 14 and older, United States and states. https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/sites/default/files/pcyr1970-2024_final.txt. Retrieved 2026-10-18.Citation styles
APA 7
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health. (2026). Apparent per capita alcohol consumption by State and type of beverage (AEDS data file pcyr1970), beer, gallons of ethanol per capita age 14 and older, United States and states (US states by apparent beer consumption per person 14 and over, 2016) [Data set]. Retrieved October 18, 2026, from https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/sites/default/files/pcyr1970-2024_final.txt
MLA 9
Apparent per capita alcohol consumption by State and type of beverage (AEDS data file pcyr1970), beer, gallons of ethanol per capita age 14 and older, United States and states, US states by apparent beer consumption per person 14 and over, 2016. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, 2 Oct. 2026, https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/sites/default/files/pcyr1970-2024_final.txt. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/apparent-beer-consumption-per-capita/us-states?period=2016. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.
Chicago (author-date)
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health. 2026. Apparent per capita alcohol consumption by State and type of beverage (AEDS data file pcyr1970), beer, gallons of ethanol per capita age 14 and older, United States and states. US states by apparent beer consumption per person 14 and over, 2016. Dataset. Accessed October 18, 2026. https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/sites/default/files/pcyr1970-2024_final.txt. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/apparent-beer-consumption-per-capita/us-states?period=2016.
Harvard
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health (2026) Apparent per capita alcohol consumption by State and type of beverage (AEDS data file pcyr1970), beer, gallons of ethanol per capita age 14 and older, United States and states, US states by apparent beer consumption per person 14 and over, 2016 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/sites/default/files/pcyr1970-2024_final.txt, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/apparent-beer-consumption-per-capita/us-states?period=2016 (Accessed: 18 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{national_us_states_by_apparent_2016,
author = {{National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health}},
title = {{Apparent per capita alcohol consumption by State and type of beverage (AEDS data file pcyr1970), beer, gallons of ethanol per capita age 14 and older, United States and states: US states by apparent beer consumption per person 14 and over, 2016}},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {Data set},
url = {https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/sites/default/files/pcyr1970-2024_final.txt},
urldate = {2026-10-18},
note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/apparent-beer-consumption-per-capita/us-states?period=2016. Publisher attribution: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Alcohol Epidemiologic Data System. Apparent per capita alcohol consumption by State and type of beverage (AEDS data file pcyr1970), beer, gallons of ethanol per capita age 14 and older, United States and states. https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/sites/default/files/pcyr1970-2024\_final.txt. Retrieved 2026-10-18.},
}
RIS
TY - DATA
AU - National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health
TI - Apparent per capita alcohol consumption by State and type of beverage (AEDS data file pcyr1970), beer, gallons of ethanol per capita age 14 and older, United States and states: US states by apparent beer consumption per person 14 and over, 2016
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/02
PB - National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health
DB - Invokely
UR - https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/sites/default/files/pcyr1970-2024_final.txt
L2 - https://invokely.ai/rankings/apparent-beer-consumption-per-capita/us-states?period=2016
Y2 - 2026/10/18
N1 - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/apparent-beer-consumption-per-capita/us-states?period=2016.
N1 - Publisher attribution: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Alcohol Epidemiologic Data System. Apparent per capita alcohol consumption by State and type of beverage (AEDS data file pcyr1970), beer, gallons of ethanol per capita age 14 and older, United States and states. https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/sites/default/files/pcyr1970-2024_final.txt. Retrieved 2026-10-18.
ER -
Use this data in your AI agent
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Rank US states by apparent beer consumption per person 14 and over using official data, and cite the source.
rank_places {"indicator":"alcohol_consumption_gallons_per_capita_beer","level":"region","within":"United States","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=alcohol_consumption_gallons_per_capita_beer&level=region&within=United%20States&limit=10Questions
Which state has the highest apparent beer consumption per person 14 and over?
New Hampshire, with 1.86 US gallons of ethanol per person in 2016, according to National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health.
Which state has the lowest apparent beer consumption per person 14 and over?
Utah, with 0.63 US gallons of ethanol per person in 2016.
Where does this ranking come from?
Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Apparent per capita alcohol consumption by State and type of beverage (AEDS data file pcyr1970), beer, gallons of ethanol per capita age 14 and older, United States and states. Retrieved 2026-10-18.