Austin/Round Rock Area Named the Drunkest City in Texas

Recently released data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that the Austin/Round Rock area has the highest rate of alcohol abuse in the state of Texas. WFAA writes that while 18 percent of adults in the U.S. are said to drink excessively, the rate of excess differs greatly from state to state. (The CDC considers “binge drinking” at least four drinks in one night for women and five or more for men. “Heavy drinking” refers to knocking back eight or more drinks for women and 15 or more for men in the span of a week.)

The statistics suggest, “With a 22.3% excessive drinking rate, Austin-Round Rock is the heaviest drinking metro area in Texas and among the heaviest drinking nationwide. As is often the case in areas with high excessive drinking rates, the Austin population is also relatively high earning and well educated.”

The 22.3 percentile places Austin in the top 10 percent of the number of adults who binge or heavily drink out of all of the American cities listed. Yet, the state of Texas has the 20th lowest percentile of binge/heavy drinking at 17.3 percent. The statistics for alcohol-related driving deaths is a chilling 32.1 percent in Austin.

An article written in the Statesman back in 2013 and republished in 2017 suggests that Austinites have known this is an issue for some time. They write that Austin was placed fifth on a list of drunkest cities in America from the Daily Beast. “Austin, the only Texas city on the list, beat out other drinking meccas such as New Orleans (seventh) and Las Vegas,” said the Statesman.