Is Milwaukee America's Drunkest City?

Does the Data Paint an Accurate Picture

I can admit it. In a town that at one time was known for having a bar or tavern on ever corner, with a baseball team named the Brewers, and the home of past and present brewing giants Miller, Pabst, Schlitz, and Blatz, we like to drink.

Milwaukee enjoys a good party. If you're here in the summer, there are colorful ethnic festivals that take place along Lake Michigan, church picnics, and a myriad of other festivals and community celebrations taking place every weekend that almost certainly will involve alcohol.

In winter, nothing beats a brand old-fashioned sweet to chase away the chill after digging your car out of a snowbank.

An article published on August 22 by Forbes magazine article named Milwaukee, Wisconsin "America's Drunkest City."

According to the article, Milwaukee earned dubious honor because "more than 70% of adult Milwaukeeans reported that they had had at least one alcoholic drink within the past 30 days … twenty-two percent of Milwaukee respondents confessed to binge drinking, or having five or more drinks on one occasion … and 7.5% of the population were reported as heavy drinkers - adult men that have more than two drinks per day, or adult women who have more than one drink per day."

Ranking number one in the nation, based on the data set Forbes was using from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's "Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey 2004," is not a good thing. In fact, the number one ranking in binge drinking is downright troubling and does not paint a pretty picture of Milwaukee.

But when did having one alcoholic beverage a month become a bad thing? My grandparents would have answered yes to that question and they are certainly not what one would consider "drinkers."