NATIONAL HOUSEHOLD SURVEY ON DRUG ABUSE: alcohol & metropolitan areas

1997 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse

Alcohol Use, by Age Group, Population Density, and Region (Tables 7.1 to 7.3)

Overall, rates of past year and past month alcohol use were higher in large and small metropolitan areas compared with the rates in nonmetropolitan areas. But when rates of use among persons in each age group were compared, two patterns emerged. Among youths and young adults, rates of use in large and small metropolitan areas were not different from each other or from those for nonmetropolitan areas. For the category of oldest adults, however, the prevalence of alcohol use for the past year and past month was significantly lower in the nonmetropolitan areas; this pattern also was exhibited by past month users among middle adults aged 26 to 34.

Overall, residents of the South reported significantly lower rates of past year and past month alcohol use than those residing in the Northeast or North Central regions. Among youths, past year use in the North Central region was more prevalent than in either the Northeast or the South. For persons aged 18 or older, rates of past year and past month alcohol use were generally highest among residents of the North Central region.

This page was last updated on June 16, 2008.

SAMHSA, an agency in the Department of Health and Human Services, is the Federal Government's lead agency for improving the quality and availability of substance abuse prevention, addiction treatment, and mental health services in the United States.

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