America's 15 Hardest Drinking Cities

Ah, Consumer Behavior. Forbes took a look at the CDC’s 2007 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey (BRFSS) and ranked 33 cities based on their resident’s answers to three survey questions:

whether they had at least one drink of alcohol within the past 30 days; whether men had more than two drinks per day or women one drink per day; and whether they had five or more drinks on one occasion. In each case, higher-ranking cities reported larger percentages of their population answering in the affirmative.

Of course, as Forbes notes, a better “hard drinkin'” rank doesn’t mean your city is a “den of debauchery,” and “just downing a few cold ones doesn’t make a person irresponsible.” Well, like, duh…

Forbes’ 15 Hardest Drinking Cities

  • 1. Austin, TX

  • 2. Milwaukee, WI
  • 3. San Francisco, CA
  • 4. Providence, R.I.
  • 5. Chicago, IL
  • 8. (tie) Seattle, WA, Cleveland, OH, St. Louis, MO
  • 9. Boston, MA
  • 10. Cincinnati, OH
  • 11. Pittsburgh,PA
  • 12. Virginia Beach, VA
  • 13. Portland, OR
  • 14. Jacksonville, FL
  • 15. Detroit, MI

America’s Hard-Drinking Cities [Forbes]
(Photo: Paxton Holley )

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