Residents of the United States drank 7.8 billion gallons of booze in 2023, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). That same year — the latest of NIAAA’s available data — considerable slides in wine and beer consumption predicated a nearly 15 million-gallon dip in total alcohol consumption in the United States. Spirits was the only category to record growth, up 2.6 percent year-over-year to 734.2 million gallons consumed in 2023.

Wine and beer continue to top spirits in total consumption by volume — understandably so, as a single unit of wine or beer contains far more liquid than one of spirits — but there’s a shift occurring in how much pure ethanol the average U.S. resident drinks from each category: 2022 was the first year since 1969 that Americans consumed per capita more ethanol from spirits than beer, with 1.03 gallons from beer and 1.06 from spirits. In 2023, that difference became even more stark, as the average U.S. resident drank 1.08 gallons of ethanol from spirits, compared to the 0.99 gallons of ethanol from beer.

But the amount of hard liquor consumed varies from region to region. The South — the NIAAA labels its regions in line with the U.S. Census Bureau — downed the most ethanol from spirits by volume at 108 million gallons. The Northeast knocked back the least with constituents drinking 54.5 million gallons.

However, region-by-region numbers look different when analyzed by per capita consumption. The West and Northeast drank the most ethanol from spirits at 1.17 and 1.13 gallons per person, respectively. Though the South drank the most in total volume, its average resident drank the least at 1 gallon per person.

Check out our maps below to dive into state-by-state liquor consumption.

The States That Drink the Most Ethanol Per Capita

We mapped the state-by-state spirits consumption across the U.S.

Delaware and New Hampshire downed the most ethanol from spirits per capita at 2.83 and 1.86 gallons, respectively. The two states often rank highest in per capita alcohol consumption, no matter the category, which is likely due to their lack of alcohol sales tax. Delaware was the only state with a per capita figure above two gallons in 2023. At the bottom end, West Virginia and Utah — which has some of the strictest alcohol laws in America — drank the least amount of ethanol from spirits per capita at 0.57 gallons and 0.59 gallons, respectively.

The States That Drink the Most Ethanol from Spirits

We mapped the state-by-state spirits consumption across the U.S.

As is typical, the most populous states drank the most ethanol from spirits in volume. California knocked back the most in 2023 at 41.5 million gallons, leagues above Florida in the No. 2 spot at 27 million gallons. Rounding out the top three was Texas, where residents consumed 21.7 million gallons of ethanol from spirits. California, Florida, and Texas were the only states with total spirits consumption above 20 million gallons. Vermont, from which residents likely travel to nearby New Hampshire to evade alcohol sales taxes, came out at the bottom with 431,000 gallons of ethanol from spirits consumed.

Ranking the States

Gallons Per Capita

Rank State Gallons of Ethanol Per Capita
1 Delaware 2.38
2 New Hampshire 1.86
3 North Dakota 1.78
4 Washington, D.C. 1.75
5 Nevada 1.73
6 Wisconsin 1.65
7 Rhode Island 1.60
8 Massachusetts 1.57
9 Colorado 1.49
10 Minnesota 1.47
11 Wyoming 1.43
12 Missouri 1.41
13 Florida 1.40
14 New Jersey 1.34
15 Alaska 1.32
16 California 1.27
17 Louisiana 1.17
18 Maryland 1.17
19 Maine 1.16
20 Connecticut 1.15
21 Montana 1.11
22 Tennessee 1.07
23 Kentucky 1.06
24 Michigan 1.05
25 Indiana 1.02
26 Oregon 1.00
27 New York 0.98
28 Iowa 0.97
29 Arizona 0.96
30 Kansas 0.95
31 Illinois 0.93
32 Mississippi 0.90
33 Georgia 0.88
34 New Mexico 0.88
35 Texas 0.88
36 Washington 0.88
37 Hawaii 0.87
38 Nebraska 0.86
39 South Carolina 0.86
40 Idaho 0.85
41 Pennsylvania 0.85
42 Alabama 0.83
43 North Carolina 0.82
44 Virginia 0.78
45 South Dakota 0.77
46 Vermont 0.77
47 Arkansas 0.75
48 Oklahoma 0.73
49 Ohio 0.70
50 Utah 0.59
51 West Virginia 0.57

Gallons Overall

Rank State Gallons of Spirits in Ethanol Overall (M)
1 California 41.5
2 Florida 27.0
3 Texas 21.7
4 New York 16.3
5 New Jersey 10.4
6 Illinois 9.8
7 Massachusetts 9.4
8 Pennsylvania 9.3
9 Michigan 8.8
10 Wisconsin 8.2
11 Georgia 8.0
12 North Carolina 7.5
13 Colorado 7.4
14 Missouri 7.3
15 Minnesota 7.0
16 Ohio 6.9
17 Tennessee 6.4
18 Arizona 6.0
19 Maryland 6.0
20 Indiana 5.8
21 Washington 5.8
22 Virginia 5.6
23 Nevada 4.6
24 Louisiana 4.4
25 Kentucky 4.0
26 South Carolina 3.9
27 Oregon 3.6
28 Alabama 3.5
29 Connecticut 3.5
30 Iowa 2.6
31 Oklahoma 2.4
32 Kansas 2.3
33 New Hampshire 2.3
34 Mississippi 2.2
35 Delaware 2.1
36 Arkansas 1.9
37 New Mexico 1.6
38 Utah 1.6
39 Rhode Island 1.5
40 Idaho 1.4
41 Maine 1.4
42 Nebraska 1.4
43 Hawaii 1.1
44 Montana 1.1
45 North Dakota 1.1
46 Washington, D.C. 1.0
47 West Virginia 0.9
48 Alaska 0.8
49 Wyoming 0.7
50 South Dakota 0.6
51 Vermont 0.4

*Image retrieved from Credit: Igor Normann – stock.adobe.com