Miami Is One of America's Soberest Cities

Miami has an image of hedonism, but the city rarely makes any list concerning alcohol. In fact, the Daily Beast now tells us we're one of America's soberest cities. Sure, we're only 23, but how did we even end up on the list in the first place?...

By Kyle Munzenrieder

March 9, 2011

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Miami has an image of hedonism, but the city rarely makes any list concerning alcohol. In fact, the Daily Beast now tells us we're one of America's soberest cities. Sure, we're only 23, but how did we even end up on the list in the first place?

To come up with the rankings, the Daily Beast calculated the average alcoholic drinks consumed per person per month, the percentage of adults who are considered heavy drinkers, the percentage of adults who binge-drink, and deaths related to alcoholic liver disease. Here's how Miami fared:

Average alcoholic drinks consumed per person in typical month: 11.61.

Percentage of adults who are heavy drinkers: 3.1.

Percentage of adults who are binge drinkers: 12.

Deaths per 100,000 residents from alcoholic liver disease: 4.1

This makes Miami the soberest big city in Florida. In fact,

the 305 is the only Sunshine State city to make the 30-spot list. If you're

wondering, Nashville is America's soberest city, and Tennessee towns

take the top three spots.

But back to Miami. How did we end up here? Well, we have a couple of cynical ideas.

1. It's hard to abuse alcohol when $14 for a watered-down well drink at a bar or club is commonplace.

2. Perhaps we're getting our kicks from some other substances.

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