In South Dakota, we're famous, or should I say infamous, around the country for being 'On Meth', but new numbers suggest we have an alcohol problem as well.

SafeHome.org examined data from all 50 states and the District of Columbia looking at the percentage of people who drink and how much, how drinking rates have changed, the prevalence of craft breweries and the rate of binge-drinking.

When those figures were combined, South Dakota emerged as the third drunkest place in America, closely behind Washington DC and Vermont.

A closer look at the data reversals that the Mount Rushmore State is second in the nation in the percentage (7.6%) of adults needing treatment for drinking but not getting it, and third in both the overall alcoholism rate (7.94%) and the alcohol arrest rate per 100,000 people (937.6).

The state also ranks in the top five with the highest percentage of adults who binge-drink regularly (33.4%). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines binge-drinking as men consuming five or more drinks or women consuming four or more drinks in about 2 hours.

South Dakota also ranked in the top ten in the alcohol-related death rate per 100,000 people (20.8), the percentage of adults drink regularly (64.57%), and the number of glasses of alcohol consumed daily per capita (2.86).

DRUNKEST STATES/DISTRICTS IN AMERICA (SafeHome.org)

  1. Washington DC
  2. Vermont
  3. South Dakota
  4. New Hampshire
  5. North Dakota
  6. Wisconsin
  7. Iowa
  8. Montana
  9. Nebraska
  10. Colorado, Massachusetts

More than 5 in 10 American adults are regular drinkers, with about 56% reporting that they have had a drink in the past month, according to data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.


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