Binge Drinking Capital Of America: Where Does North Dakota Land?

North Dakota has the reputation as one of the drunkest states in America.

Alcohol is linked to seven different types of cancer, yet it's normalized in our North Dakota society. If you don't drink, you are the weird one.

According to the CDC, alcohol can increase your chances of colorectal, esophageal, liver, mouth, throat, voice box (larynx), and particularly breast cancer.

In reality, there is no safe amount of alcohol. Again, according to the CDC, alcohol is classified as a Group 1 carcinogen.

I know there are people who swear by a glass of wine daily for their heart health. You have to wonder if it is worth it, judging by the information above.

Binge drinking continues to be a problem in North Dakota, as once again, we are near the top of the list.

According to a new study from FindRecovery, North Dakota came in at #2 in the country (behind only Iowa) with a binge drinking rate of 22.4% rate. That would be the bad news. The good news is that this is actually down from last year -.29%.

We trail Iowa by only a 1/10 of a point. Iowa has a binge drinking rate of 22.5%.

Montana was right behind North Dakota at #2 at 21.9% for binge drinking.

Our neighbors to the south, South Dakota, ranks #4 at a rate of 21.5% for binge drinking.

Minnesota came in at #10 with a rate of 18.4% for binge drinking.

Utah had the lowest rate of binge drinking at 11.9, nearly half of North Dakota's percentage.

The data was based on information collected between 2011 and 2023. The study examined the age-adjusted binge drinking rates across all 50 states, then calculated the average annual change in binge drinking rates over time.

According to the CDC, binge drinking is four or more drinks for women, or five or more drinks for men, during an occasion.