Montana Claims the Top Spot for ‘Drunkest County in America’

Growing up in Montana, I have never heard of a "dry county." They are simply county-level laws that prohibit the sale of alcohol.

Get our free mobile app

I visited a friend in California for a week. We were staying in a dry county. I remember playing beer pong for hours until we ran out of beer. We immediately rallied a sober driver for a beer run and forgot we were in a county that had ridiculous laws. Not a single gas station for miles sold any alcohol. Even in wine country.

Thankfully, Montana has far fewer rules when it comes to buying booze. Other than the "No Sales from 2 am to 8 am" law, you can grab a cold one anytime and anywhere in Montana.

This could be the reason why Montana ranked so high in a recent study on "Drunkest Counties in America."

Judging by the Map from intoxistates.com, Montana is almost completely in the red when it comes to excessive drinking. Places in Utah ranked lowest with only 12% of the population being excessive drinkers. Most of the west and midwest counties averaged 15-17%. However, Montana has just about every county at the high end of the spectrum.

According to the study, Gallatin County is the "Drunkest County in America." An average of 24% of Montana residents are excessive drinkers. Residents of Gallatin County have 26.8% of the population excessively drinking.

Maybe the trend of building breweries and distilleries on every corner has something to do with it. Let's put it this way, Gallatin County beat every county in Wisconsin. Must be thirsty.

View the map and specific data for every county in the state.