Gallup Finds 54% of Americans Now Drink Alcohol, Matching a Record Low

Fewer Americans say they drink alcohol, and the share remains at the lowest level Gallup has measured in its long-running trend, according to a new poll released Wednesday.

Gallup said 54% of U.S. adults now describe themselves as alcohol drinkers, unchanged from last year and the lowest reading since the polling organization began tracking the issue in 1939. The result extends a recent decline. The figure was 62% in 2023, 58% in 2024 and 54% in 2025, where it has now held for a second straight year.

The findings come from Gallup’s Consumption Habits survey, based on interviews conducted July 1 through July 19 with U.S. adults ages 18 and older.

The poll also found that Americans have become more likely to see even moderate drinking as harmful. Gallup said 51% of adults believe having one or two alcoholic drinks a day is bad for a person’s health. That is slightly below last year’s record-high 53%, but it is still only the second time since Gallup first asked the question in 2001 that a majority has taken that view.

The shift is notable when compared with attitudes a quarter-century ago. In 2001, 27% of Americans said moderate drinking was bad for one’s health, 22% said it was good for you, and 46% said it made no difference.

Gallup linked the change in attitudes to broader public awareness of research on alcohol and health. The survey found that 86% of Americans have heard at least something about recent studies on the long-term health effects of drinking, up from 79% in 2024. The share who said they had heard a great deal or a fair amount also rose, to 54% from 49%.

As drinking has fallen, so has the number of Americans who say they sometimes drink too much. Gallup said 13% now report overdrinking at least occasionally, another record low in its trend. Before 2000, more than 20% of Americans routinely gave that answer, and the rate reached a high of 35% in 1989.

Among people who do drink, reported consumption remains moderate by recent historical standards. Drinkers said they had an average of 3.2 drinks in the previous week. That was close to the 2.8 reported last year, but below the 3.9 average Gallup recorded across the prior five readings.

Gallup said the drop in drinking since 2023 appears across most major demographic groups. The decline was seen among men and women, White and non-White adults, and every age group, though the survey did not show significant year-to-year changes in the past year within those groups.

The partisan picture was less uniform. Compared with 2023, drinking has fallen sharply among Republicans and independents, Gallup said, but not among Democrats. Differences also appeared by religious practice. Drinking has declined since 2023 among people Gallup classified as moderately religious and among nonreligious adults, while there was no similar decline among highly religious adults who attend weekly services. Gallup noted that drinking was already less common in that group.

For the first time, Gallup also asked Americans about nonalcoholic alternatives such as alcohol-free beer, wine and spirits. The survey found that 17% of U.S. adults said they had chosen one of those beverages instead of an alcoholic drink at some point in the past year. That included 20% of people who drink alcohol and 14% of those who do not.

Among drinkers who use nonalcoholic alternatives, 38% said they are consuming more of them than they used to, compared with 17% who said they are drinking less. The findings suggest that substitution is still limited overall, but it is growing among a segment of consumers.

When Gallup asked drinkers what type of alcohol they consume most often, beer kept a narrow lead. About 36% named beer, 32% chose liquor and 30% chose wine. Gallup said those rankings have been fairly stable in recent years, even as long-term preferences have shifted.

The strongest long-term movement has been toward liquor. Since 2016, the share of drinkers who say liquor is their main beverage has risen by 12 percentage points, while beer has fallen by seven points. Wine has remained close to 30% over that period, showing little change even as overall drinking has moved lower.

Preferences varied sharply by gender. Among men who drink, 56% said beer is their main choice, compared with 16% of women. Wine showed the reverse pattern. Gallup found that 45% of women who drink prefer wine, compared with 15% of men. Women were also more likely than men to name liquor, at 37% versus 26%.

Age differences were present, though less pronounced than the gender gap. Gallup said adults ages 55 and older most often prefer wine. Younger and middle-aged adults are more likely to choose liquor, and among young adults, liquor is now essentially tied with beer. Gallup said that marks a clear change from a decade ago, when beer had a more dominant place in that age group.