Illinois Drinkers: New Study Shows Which Counties Drink The Most

There have been reports over the last few years that less people are binge drinking than were doing it a decade ago, but the numbers still say that one out of every six adult drinkers are binge-drinkers.

So, what exactly is a binge-drinker, anyway?

According to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), binge-drinking is 5 or more drinks on one occasion for men, four or more for women. There's also the category of "heavy drinking," which means 15 or more drinks per week for men, and eight or more drinks in a week for women. The CDC says that any drinking while pregnant or drinking while underage qualifies as excessive drinking.

According To A New Study, Wisconsin Should Be Happy With The Current Direction The State Is Taking When It Comes To Binge Drinking

The study, recently released as the County Health Rankings and Roadmaps report from the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute says that Wisconsin has lowered its number of self-reported binge-drinkers from 25 percent to 24 percent, which puts Wisconsin in 5th place overall in the country.

So who's number one for binge-drinking in the USA?

That would be Montana, where 26 percent say they're binge-drinkers. Iowa, North Dakota, and the District of Columbia all follow, tied at 25%. The states where residents binge-drink the least? Oklahoma, Kentucky, Alabama, West Virginia.

TheHill.com:

Iowa was the most represented, with six of its counties ranking among the top 10.

Just two Wisconsin counties landed toward the top of the list, an improvement over five in the previous year. Still, all 72 of its counties had more than 21% of adults self-report excessive drinking.

Now, Let's Take A Look At Some Of Illinois' Drinking Numbers

Overall, according to the study, Illinois' rate of binge drinking is 19 percent, which is up one percentage point from last year.

Looking at some Illinois counties, we get these numbers (all based upon self-reported binge-drinking):

• Winnebago: 20%
• Boone: 21%
• Ogle: 22%
• McHenry: 22%
• Lake: 20%
• Jo Daviess: 23%
• Stephenson: 20%
• Cook: 21%
• Kane: 20%
• Dekalb: 21%