Austin-Round Rock Area The Drunkest Region In Texas

AUSTIN, TX — Austin and Round Rock: You might want to put the drink down.

According to new research, the Austin-Round Rock metropolitan statistical area is the drunkest region in all of Texas — a state with relatively low alcohol consumption levels.

The upshot: the share of adults in the Austin area who drink excessively is 21.5 percent, well above the national average of 18 percent. Overall, the rate of excessive alcohol consumption statewide is below the national average at 17.4 percent.

The findings were revealed by 24/7 Wall Street.

"Excessive drinking in a community does not necessarily increase the likelihood of drunk driving, but high alcohol consumption may partially explain such risky behavior in the Austin area," officials wrote. "Alcohol is involved in 34.9% of driving deaths in the area, higher than both the state and national rates. Since people — especially white men — who earn $75,000 or more annually are among the most likely to drink excessively, higher incomes may help explain the excessive drinking in Austin-Round Rock."

The typical household in the Austin-Round Rock region earns an annual income of $67,195, according to statistics. This is well above the median incomes in both Texas and the United States, according to the data.

In their reckoning, officials included people who drink heavily on a regular basis and those prone to binge drinking when imbibing alcohol.

Excessive drinking is a scourge nationally, costing some $250 billion in health care expenses and loss of productivity, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials. Binge drinking accounted for three-quarters of that total cost, according to latest available data from 2010.

So what is binge drinking? The CDC defines it as the consumption of four or more drinks for women and five or more drinks for men in a single sitting. Heavy drinking is defined as the per-week consumption of 15 or more drinks for men, typically eight or more for women.

The region lags behind Appleton, the drunkest city in Wisconsin, in the national tally. The city leads the nation with 26.8 percent of adults drinking excessively. Nationwide, nearly 90 percent of adults have drunk alcohol at some point in their lives, according to the CDC data. Of those, 71 percent consumed alcohol in the past year, 57 percent say they drank in the past month and 18 percent acknowledging they partake in excessive drinking.

To see the full list of the nation's drunkest cities, click here.

>>> Image via Shutterstock