Illinois’ Neighbor Has 41 Of The 50 Drunkest Counties In The U.S.
I'm sure that the moment you read the headline you thought to yourself "Wow, Iowa. You need to slow down on the drinking because you're embarrassing yourself."
Well, you're wrong.
Not about Iowa embarrassing itself, because I'm sure that happens. You'd be wrong in thinking that Iowa is the Illinois neighbor with 41 of the 50 drunkest counties in America. Before you run around casting aspersions at Illinois' neighboring states to the east, west, and south, I should give you a small clue as to which state we're talking about:
This state wants to have it's own official state cocktail, which is something that no other state has or has even proposed doing.
If that didn't help, here's another clue:
By Almost Unanimous Consensus, Wisconsin Is The Drunkest State In America, But Another Illinois Next-Door-Neighbor Comes In At Number-Two
I'm looking at study after study that puts Wisconsin as the state with the most overall consumption of alcohol. A piece by 247WallSt.com says that 25.2% of Wisconsin adults drink heavily, which is 6% more than the national average. 35% of fatal car accidents are alcohol-related, a number that's 9% higher than the national average.
Surprisingly enough, Iowa comes in at number-two, where the percentage of adults who drink heavily is 24.9%, just a shade below Wisconsin.
Here in Illinois, we're doing better (or worse, depending on your drinking perspective) than at least two of our neighboring states. Illinois comes in at #9 on the list of drunkest states with 22.9% of adults drinking heavily.
The Study Of The Drunkest States In America Also Points Out That 82% Of The Nation's 50 Drunkest Counties Just Happen To Be Behind The Cheddar Curtain
You may be thinking that those 41 Wisconsin counties are all drinking about the same amount, but there is one Wisconsin county that outdrinks all the rest, according to a piece at Mashed.com.
That county would be Outagamie County (Appleton is the county seat), in the northeast part of the state, where thirty-one percent of adults there binge drink or drink heavily, compared to the United States national average of 19.8%.
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Gallery Credit: Angela Underwood