Rates Of Alcohol Use In America Plummets To New Lows

We have previously argued that abstinence as part of recovery from alcohol and other drug addiction gets a bad rap. Based in part, no doubt, in the country’s historic view of addiction through a moral lens, abstinence has been viewed as a penance for immoral behavior or perhaps a Scarlett Letter (AA) rather than a natural, logical response to a harmful, biochemical reaction from a substance. Rather than viewing abstinence as a logical reaction to addiction, we tend to think of the person in recovery as somehow deprived.

Our point, though, was more than a response to an obviously incorrect view. We argue that in fact abstinence is the norm. We cited sources reporting that 25% of Americans do not use alcohol, about 17% use cannabis recreationally, 11% use nicotine usually in the form of tobacco, and only 7% use other, schedule1 narcotics recreationally. Abstinence is not unusual - - it is the normative behavior in America.

Despite our view on this matter we, too, were very surprised to read the recent Gallup Poll indicating that only 54% of Americans used alcohol at least once in 2025. 46% of Americans did not consume even one alcoholic beverage in 2025 and that is the lowest point in Gallup’s nearly 90-year survey. Gallup has tracked Americans’ drinking behavior since 1939 and their views of the health implications of moderate drinking since 2001.

The highest rates of imbibing recorded were between 68% and 71% between 1974 and 1981. Rates began to fall from 1997 to 2023 when at least 60% of Americans reported drinking alcohol. The rates continued to fall before reaching 54% last year.

While the decline year over year has differences by demographics, it seems to have occurred across the board. Among the comparisons of decline in use between 2023 and 2025:

·       All adults                                                         -8%

·       Men                                                                    -5%

·       Women                                                          -11%

·       Whites                                                            -11%

·       Non-whites                                                    -2%

·       Household income <$40,000            -14%

·       Household income >$100,000          -13%

·       Republican Party affiliation                 -19%

·       Democratic Pary affiliation                    -3%

·       Aged 18-34                                                -9%

·       Aged over 55                                             -5%

 (people of color, seniors and Democrats had historically lower rates of imbibing)

Gallup notes that these declines in alcohol consumption do not appear to be caused by people shifting to other mood-altering substances in particular cannabis which is now legal in about half of U.S. states. Marijuana use is higher today than a decade ago, but it has been fairly steady over the past four years and doesn’t appear to be a factor in people choosing not to drink alcohol.

A PBS News report from August 2025 discussed that it is also the case that among Americans who use alcohol they are using less than in the past. The survey found that adults who think moderate drinking is bad for one's health are just as likely as people who don't share those concerns to report that they drink, but fewer of the people with health worries had consumed alcohol recently. Overall, only about one-quarter of Americans who drink said they had consumed alcohol in the prior 24 hours, a record low in the survey. Roughly 40% said that it had been more than a week since they had a drink.

For the first time in Gallup’s trend, a majority of Americans, 53%, say drinking in moderation, even within federal guidelines, is unhealthy. Just 6% say it’s good for one’s health, while 37% believe it makes no difference. This change in perspective coincides with recent reports from Europe and America that there is no “safe” amount of alcohol use. There had been observational studies that postulated a preventive effect for cardiac disease from moderate alcohol use and especially wine. Today the view is that there is no prophylactic effect from alcohol and that the previous observation is association between moderate drinking and other health improving behaviors by those moderate users. Today the advice is that alcohol is a carcinogen that has harmful effects from the first drop. It appears that Americans are listening to that advice and now think that even moderate alcohol use carries health risks. The federal government's current dietary guidelines recommend Americans not drink or, if they do consume alcohol, men should limit themselves to two drinks a day or fewer while women should stick to one or fewer. This is typically the definition of moderate drinking.

Younger adults have been quicker than older Americans to accept that drinking is harmful. About two-thirds of 18- to 34-year-olds believe moderate drinking is unhealthy, according to the Gallup poll, up from about 40% in 2015. Older adults are less likely to see alcohol as harmful — about half of Americans age 55 or older believe this — but that's a substantial increase, too. In 2015, only about 2 in 10 adults age 55 or older thought alcohol was bad for their health. Gallup suggests that shifting health advice throughout older Americans' lives may be a reason they have been more gradual than young adults to recognize alcohol as harmful. People over a certain age have not seen health research as evolving but confusing and contradictory. Is coffee, for instance, bad or good or neutral for our health and in what amounts?  It is easy to become jaded with the changing advice even from evidence-based research. For young folks this is the environment that they've grown up in and it is the first advice they have heard from a reliable source.

As we have previously stated, we are not Menken’s “puritans” who shun any alcohol use. We have reported that among the 230 million American adults approximately 100 million can and do use alcohol in moderation and responsibly. Alcohol use is deeply engrained in American culture and is not likely to disappear from the cultural landscape anytime soon. You will find your Mint Julep at the Kentucky Derby just fine. We all do take risks every day such as driving cars. Like automobile use, however, it is appropriate that our attitudes about safety evolve. After “Unsafe At Any Speed” we Americans made many, many improvements in driving safety and today fewer than 39,000 driving fatalities occur every year though Americans drive over 6 trillion miles annually.

A similar evolution in safe alcohol use is welcomed. And, for those in recovery, abstinence becomes even less of an isolating practice.

Gene Gilchrist

February 2026