Florida Alcohol Abuse Statistics

How Florida compares with the United States, South, and bordering states on alcohol consumption and abuse. Our statistics cover Alcohol use Disorder (AUD), liver-disease deaths, and drunk driving impact. Note that source timeframes vary; federal survey figures are two-year averages.

Key Takeaways - Florida

Data current as of our most recent data pull on 2026-10-19.

  1. Florida residents purchased the third-highest level of alcohol in the South, at 2.82 gallons of pure alcohol per person aged 14 and older in the most recent year of federal sales data.

    Source: NIAAA Surveillance Report #124, apparent per capita alcohol consumption by state, 2024 · Rank 3 of 17

  2. Florida has the second-lowest share of traffic deaths involving an alcohol-impaired driver in the South Atlantic states, at 24% in the most recent year.

    Source: NHTSA State Alcohol-Impaired-Driving Estimates: 2024 Data (DOT HS 813 813) · Rank 2 of 9

  3. Florida has the third-lowest death rate from chronic liver disease and cirrhosis in the South, at 11.0 per 100,000 in the most recent 12 months of provisional data.

    Source: NCHS Vital Statistics Rapid Release, quarterly provisional estimates (chronic liver disease and cirrhosis) · Rank 3 of 17

  4. Florida recorded the third-largest increase in per-person alcohol purchases in the South, up 4.4% over the past five years.

    Source: NIAAA Surveillance Report #124, apparent per capita alcohol consumption by state, 2024 · Rank 3 of 17

  5. Florida recorded the third-largest decline in the share of traffic deaths involving an alcohol-impaired driver in the South, down 3 percentage points over the past decade.

    Source: NHTSA State Alcohol-Impaired-Driving Estimates: 2024 Data (DOT HS 813 813) · Rank 3 of 17

Florida scorecard

Index versus the national figure: 1.00 is the US level, 1.20 is 20% above it. Rank 1 is the highest value among 51 states and DC.

2.82
Per-capita consumption
Index 1.17 · #11 of 51
US: 2.42
20.4%
Binge drinking
Index 0.98 · #30 of 51
US: 20.9%
9.4%
Alcohol use disorder
Index 0.95 · #38 of 51
US: 9.9%
11.0
Liver disease death rate
Index 0.87 · #40 of 51
US: 12.7
24%
Alcohol-impaired share of road deaths
Index 0.8 · #45 of 51
US: 30%
6.5%
Teen drinking
Index 0.96 · #30 of 51
US: 6.8%

How much alcohol Florida buys

In the most recent year of federal sales data, alcohol sales in Florida amounted to 2.82 gallons of pure ethanol per resident aged 14 and older, against a national figure of 2.42 gallons (index 1.17, rank 11 of 51). That is roughly 602 standard drinks per person for the year. Over the past five years per-person purchases have changed by +4.4%.

BeverageFloridaUnited States
Beer0.930.95
Wine0.500.39
Spirits1.381.07
All beverages2.822.42

Gallons of ethanol per person aged 14+, most recent year. Source: NIAAA Surveillance Report #124 (apparent consumption from sales and shipments; includes sales to visitors).

Per-person alcohol consumption, Florida vs US

Gallons of ethanol per person aged 14+, last 12 years of federal data

Source: NIAAA Surveillance Report #124, Table 4.

Who drinks in Florida

Age groupDrank in past monthBinge drank in past monthAlcohol use disorder (past year)
Ages 12-17 Gen Z 6.5% (US 6.8%) 3.4% (US 3.7%) 2.7% (US 3.0%)
Ages 18-25 Gen Z 45.8% (US 48.5%) 25.2% (US 27.7%) 14.8% (US 14.7%)
Ages 26+ Millennials and older 52.0% (US 51.5%) 21.4% (US 21.8%) 9.4% (US 10.0%)
Underage 12-20 Gen Z 13.2% (US 14.0%) 7.2% (US 8.1%) 5.1% (US 5.4%)
All ages 12+ 47.8% (US 47.1%) 20.4% (US 20.9%) 9.4% (US 9.9%)

Source: SAMHSA National Survey on Drug Use and Health, state estimates, two-year annual averages, most recent available. Binge drinking is 5+ drinks (men) or 4+ (women) on one occasion. State estimates pool two survey years, so the US figures here differ slightly from the single-year national report quoted on the homepage.

Adult binge drinking by age, Florida

Share of adults reporting binge drinking in the past 30 days (BRFSS, most recent year)

Source: CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, most recent year. Young-adult cells are small in some states; intervals shown on hover.

Teens and young adults

6.5% of Florida teens aged 12 to 17 (Gen Z) drank alcohol in the past month, compared with 6.8% nationally (rank 30 of 51). Among everyone under the legal drinking age (12 to 20), 13.2% drank in the past month and 7.2% binge drank (US: 14.0% and 8.1%). Young adults aged 18 to 25 (Gen Z) remain the heaviest-drinking group: 25.2% binge drank in the past month (US 27.7%) and 14.8% met criteria for alcohol use disorder (US 14.7%).

National context: teen drinking is at record lows nationally. The most recent Monitoring the Future survey reports 41% of 12th graders drank in the past year, and Gallup finds 50% of adults aged 18 to 34 drink at all, down from 72% two decades ago. Those surveys are national only.

Alcohol-related deaths

The provisional age-adjusted death rate from chronic liver disease and cirrhosis in Florida was 11.0 per 100,000 in the most recent 12 months of provisional data, against 12.7 nationally (index 0.87, rank 40 of 51). A year earlier it was 11.3. Cirrhosis deaths are the most alcohol-sensitive cause of death that NCHS publishes quarterly; they include some non-alcoholic liver disease and exclude alcohol poisonings and crashes.

Source: CDC National Center for Health Statistics, Vital Statistics Rapid Release, quarterly provisional estimates. Provisional counts for the most recent quarters are incomplete and revised each release.

Drunk driving

In the most recent year of federal crash data, 769 people died in Florida crashes involving a driver with a blood alcohol concentration of .08 or higher, 24% of the state's 3,138 traffic deaths (US: 30%). 17% of all traffic deaths involved a driver at .15 or higher. Per resident, that is 3.3 alcohol-impaired crash deaths per 100,000 (US 3.51).

A decade earlierMost recent year
All traffic deaths2,9383,138
Deaths with an alcohol-impaired driver (BAC .08+)794769
Share of traffic deaths27%24%

Source: NHTSA, State Alcohol-Impaired-Driving Estimates: 2024 Data (DOT HS 813 813). NHTSA imputes blood alcohol levels where tests are missing; alcohol-impaired figures are alcohol-specific and exclude drug impairment.

DUI arrests

Police in Florida made 17,554 arrests for driving under the influence in the 12 months ending August 2026, 108 per 100,000 residents (US 272), rank 49 of 51. Liquor-law violations accounted for 4,830 arrests.

Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, arrests reported by participating agencies covering 70% of the state's population; the rate per 100,000 uses the covered population. Counts are preliminary and revised monthly. The FBI's DUI category covers impairment by alcohol or drugs; drunkenness and liquor-law arrests are alcohol-specific. Some states report zero for offense categories they do not track.

Florida compared with the states it borders

StateAlcohol per person (gal)Binge drinking (12+)Alcohol use disorderLiver disease deaths /100kDrunk-driving shareTeen drinking
Florida 2.8220.4%9.4% 11.024%6.5%
Alabama 1.8720.9%9.9% 15.729%6.5%
Georgia 1.9220.7%9.4% 11.723%6.3%
United States 2.4220.9%9.9% 12.730%6.8%

Methodology and sources

Figures are taken as published from the federal sources below and are not adjusted. "Index" divides the state figure by the national figure. Ranks cover the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Quotable sentences compare Florida within the United States, South, South Atlantic, the largest states by population, license states, and the states it borders; a rank is claimed on survey measures only when the state's confidence interval does not overlap that of the first state outside the claim. Per-capita consumption counts alcohol sold in the state, including to visitors, and NIAAA notes this inflates figures for states such as New Hampshire, Nevada, Delaware, and DC.

Download: Florida data (CSV) · all states (CSV)