US drinking has fallen to a modern low. Fifty-four percent of Americans said they drank alcohol, down from 58 percent in 2024 and 62 percent in 2023, according to CBS News. Gallup had tracked drinking since 1939, and the current figure fell below the previous low of 55 percent in 1958, marking the lowest point in nearly 90 years of polling. For most recent decades, at least 6 in 10 Americans said they drank, with the peak between 1974 and 1981 at 68 to 71 percent, reported Newsam.
A majority of Americans, 53 percent, said moderate drinking was bad for health, up from 28 percent in 2015. About two-thirds of adults ages 18 to 34 viewed moderate drinking as unhealthy, up from about 4 in 10 in 2015, and about half of adults 55 and older said the same, up from about 2 in 10 in 2015. Older adults were less likely than younger adults to see alcohol as harmful, but concern rose across age groups.
Older adults may be a little more rigid against sudden changes in recommendations. It may take them a little longer to digest or accept this information. For young people, this may be part of the environment they grew up in. In many cases, it may have been the first thing they heard as they stepped into adulthood, said Gallup’s director of U.S. social research.
Behavior shifted with attitudes - about one-quarter of Americans reported drinking the previous day, a historic low, and 40 percent said it had been at least a week since they last drank, the highest share since 2000. Average consumption fell to 2.8 drinks per week, down from 3.8 a year earlier and far below the 2003 peak of 5.1 drinks. Gallup found the decline did not appear to stem from substitution with recreational marijuana, which was legal in about half of US states.
The downturn cut across demographic and political lines. Since 2023, the share of Americans who drank at least occasionally fell across all racial, age, gender, and other subgroups. Over two years, women’s drinking fell by 11 percentage points and men’s by 5 points; in 2023, 62 percent of both men and women reported drinking. The steepest drop, 19 points, occurred among Republicans, while Democrats fell by 3 points. Young adults’ drinking rates were now slightly below those of middle-aged and older adults.
Attitudes appeared to affect frequency, as adults who viewed moderate drinking as unhealthy were about as likely as others to say they drank at all, but were less likely to have done so recently; about half of those with health concerns had a drink in the previous week, compared with about 7 in 10 who did not see moderate drinking as harmful.
Preferences changed as well: Beer remained most popular, with 38 percent naming it as their most frequently consumed beverage. Strong alcohol overtook wine, with 30 percent preferring strong alcohol and 29 percent choosing wine, after 29 percent and 33 percent, respectively, a year earlier.
Public health guidance tightened in recent times - drinking even small amounts of alcohol was associated with at least seven cancers, and several studies found no safe level of consumption. Alcohol is a well-established, preventable cause of cancer responsible for about 100,000 cases of cancer and 20,000 cancer deaths annually in the United States—greater than the 13,500 alcohol-associated traffic crash fatalities per year in the U.S.—yet the majority of Americans are unaware of this risk, said US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy.