ScienceThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in coordination with state health departments, routinely surveys Americans on their health habits and risks in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System program. The CDC recently released results from 2011 for about 200 of the largest US cities and metropolitan areas.
One of the risk factors respondents are asked about is binge drinking in the last month. The CDC defines binge drinking for men as having five or more drinks on one occasion, and for women as having four or more drinks on one occasion. This map shows the proportion of each metro area population that self-reported recent binge drinking in 2011:
In most metro areas, less than a quarter of the population self-reported binge drinking. Midwestern metros had higher proportions: six of the top ten cities were in the Midwest or Great Plains states.
Meanwhile, residents of many Appalachian and some Southern metros were much less likely to report binge drinking than residents in other urban areas.
Here are the ten metro areas with the highest concentration of binge drinkers:
And here are the ten areas with the lowest concentration of binge drinkers:
