Alcohol use in persons aged 12 or older in the U.S. by age 2021

In 2021, it was estimated that around 62 percent of those aged 21 to 25 years in the United States were current alcohol drinkers, the highest rate of all age groups. Those aged 21 to 25 also had the highest rates of binge alcohol use. Although the legal age to consume alcohol in the United States is 21, around 31 percent of those aged 18 to 20 years were already current alcohol users.

Binge drinking in the United States

Binge drinking is commonly defined as consuming five or more alcoholic drinks on one occasion for men and four or more drinks for women. Binge drinking is most common among adults in their 20s, and more common among Hispanics and Whites than other races or ethnicities. The states with the highest prevalence of binge drinking are Wisconsin, North Dakota, and Montana, while West Virginia has the lowest prevalence of binge drinking of all U.S. states. In 2021, almost 22 percent of the population of Wisconsin binge drank in the past 30 days, with the overall prevalence rate in the United States around 15 percent at that time.

High school alcohol use

Although alcohol use among teens remains a problem, the annual prevalence of alcohol use among those in grades 8, 10, and 12 has decreased dramatically over the past two decades. In 2021, it was estimated that a combined total of about 30 percent of those in grades 8, 10, and 12 had used alcohol in the past year. In comparison, the annual prevalence rate of alcohol use among these grades was just over 67 percent in the year 1991. The 30-day prevalence of alcohol use for these grades has also decreased significantly. In 1991, around 40 percent of those in grades 8, 10, and 12 used alcohol in the past month, while in 2021 this rate dropped to just 15 percent.