New Jersey Alcohol Abuse Statistics

How New Jersey compares with the United States, Northeast, 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 - New Jersey

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

  1. New Jersey has the second-lowest share of traffic deaths involving an alcohol-impaired driver in the United States, at 22% in the most recent year.

    Source: NHTSA State Alcohol-Impaired-Driving Estimates: 2024 Data (DOT HS 813 813) · Rank 2 of 51

  2. New Jersey has the third-lowest death rate from chronic liver disease and cirrhosis in the United States, at 8.2 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 51

  3. New Jersey recorded the second-largest increase in the share of traffic deaths involving an alcohol-impaired driver in the Northeast, up 3 percentage points over the past decade.

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

  4. New Jersey recorded the third-largest increase in per-person alcohol purchases in the Northeast, up 5.4% over the past five years.

    Source: NIAAA Surveillance Report #124, apparent per capita alcohol consumption by state, 2024 · Rank 3 of 9

  5. New Jersey residents purchased the third-highest level of alcohol among the largest states, at 2.52 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 13

New Jersey 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.

2.52
Per-capita consumption
Index 1.04 · #22 of 51
US: 2.42
20.9%
Binge drinking
Index 1.0 · #27 of 51
US: 20.9%
9.1%
Alcohol use disorder
Index 0.92 · #46 of 51
US: 9.9%
8.2
Liver disease death rate
Index 0.65 · #49 of 51
US: 12.7
22%
Alcohol-impaired share of road deaths
Index 0.73 · #50 of 51
US: 30%
6.6%
Teen drinking
Index 0.97 · #27 of 51
US: 6.8%

How much alcohol New Jersey buys

In the most recent year of federal sales data, alcohol sales in New Jersey amounted to 2.52 gallons of pure ethanol per resident aged 14 and older, against a national figure of 2.42 gallons (index 1.04, rank 22 of 51). That is roughly 538 standard drinks per person for the year. Over the past five years per-person purchases have changed by +5.4%.

BeverageNew JerseyUnited States
Beer0.680.95
Wine0.460.39
Spirits1.371.07
All beverages2.522.42

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, New Jersey 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 New Jersey

Age groupDrank in past monthBinge drank in past monthAlcohol use disorder (past year)
Ages 12-17 Gen Z 6.6% (US 6.8%) 3.5% (US 3.7%) 2.9% (US 3.0%)
Ages 18-25 Gen Z 50.1% (US 48.5%) 27.7% (US 27.7%) 14.8% (US 14.7%)
Ages 26+ Millennials and older 54.3% (US 51.5%) 21.9% (US 21.8%) 9.0% (US 10.0%)
Underage 12-20 Gen Z 13.6% (US 14.0%) 8.2% (US 8.1%) 4.8% (US 5.4%)
All ages 12+ 49.6% (US 47.1%) 20.9% (US 20.9%) 9.1% (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, New Jersey

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

6.6% of New Jersey teens aged 12 to 17 (Gen Z) drank alcohol in the past month, compared with 6.8% nationally (rank 27 of 51). Among everyone under the legal drinking age (12 to 20), 13.6% drank in the past month and 8.2% binge drank (US: 14.0% and 8.1%). Young adults aged 18 to 25 (Gen Z) remain the heaviest-drinking group: 27.7% 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 New Jersey was 8.2 per 100,000 in the most recent 12 months of provisional data, against 12.7 nationally (index 0.65, rank 49 of 51). A year earlier it was 7.8. 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, 150 people died in New Jersey crashes involving a driver with a blood alcohol concentration of .08 or higher, 22% of the state's 670 traffic deaths (US: 30%). 14% of all traffic deaths involved a driver at .15 or higher. Per resident, that is 1.58 alcohol-impaired crash deaths per 100,000 (US 3.51).

A decade earlierMost recent year
All traffic deaths561670
Deaths with an alcohol-impaired driver (BAC .08+)107150
Share of traffic deaths19%22%

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 New Jersey made 15,561 arrests for driving under the influence in the 12 months ending August 2026, 214 per 100,000 residents (US 272), rank 39 of 51. Liquor-law violations accounted for 531 arrests.

Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, arrests reported by participating agencies covering 76% 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.

New Jersey compared with the states it borders

StateAlcohol per person (gal)Binge drinking (12+)Alcohol use disorderLiver disease deaths /100kDrunk-driving shareTeen drinking
New Jersey 2.5220.9%9.1% 8.222%6.6%
Delaware 3.8521.8%10.4% 12.226%7.5%
New York 2.1919.6%9.6% 7.027%6.9%
Pennsylvania 2.4222.6%9.8% 10.426%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 New Jersey within the United States, Northeast, Middle 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: New Jersey data (CSV) · all states (CSV)