Bottoms Up! North Dakota’s Drunkest County And City Revealed

It seems like for many in North Dakota, any occasion is an occasion for libations, and most of the time in mass quantity.

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Alcohol is enjoyed responsibly by millions of Americans every day, but many people also report heavy alcohol use.

According to a study from 24/7 Wallstreet, approximately 19.0% of adults in the U.S. report regularly consuming unhealthy amounts of alcohol. In some states, excessive drinking rates are higher.

Excessive drinking, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, includes binge drinking, which is defined as four or more drinks on a single occasion for women and five or more for men, and heavy drinking, which is defined as eight or more drinks per week for women and 15 or more for men.

North Dakota has the 2nd highest share of adults who report excessive drinking, at 24.1%, compared to 19.0% nationwide.

The metro area in North Dakota with the highest share of the adult population reporting drinking excessively is Fargo. About 25.1% of adults in the city consume unhealthy amounts of alcohol. Though this is the highest share in the state, it ranks 11 among all 384 metro areas in the U.S.

The drunkest county in North Dakota is Williams. About 26.3% of adults there report excessive drinking, which ranks 20th among all 3,142 counties in the country.

Roadway fatalities involving alcohol are one of the most common causes of preventable death in the United States. Nearly 28% of all fatal car accidents in the U.S. involve an alcohol-impaired driver.

Not surprisingly, states with higher excessive drinking rates are more likely to have deadly roadway accidents involving alcohol. In North Dakota, 43.2% of fatal car accidents involve alcohol.