The people of North Dakota have more opportunity to get drunk in bars than any other state in the country. According to this chart of the number of people per bar in each state created by INFORUM, North Dakota has a bar for every 1,620 people. Congratulations, North Dakota. Your bars are less crowded, or something?
North Dakota narrowly wins over slightly less boozy neighbor, Montana, which has one bar per 1,658 people. The rest of the top five include Wisconsin, South Dakota and Nebraska. The chart, which was cobbled together from 2011 Census county business data, shows that Virginia is the driest state in all the land, with a very sober one bar for every 64,773 residents. The article also has a nifty interactive "booze in the USA" map with even more bars per capita data, which is below, along with the full list in order.
People Per Bar by State, in Order
· North Dakota, 1,621
· Montana, 1,658
· Wisconsin, 1,877
· South Dakota, 2,258
· Nebraska, 3,102
· Iowa, 3,118
· Wyoming, 3,303
· Rhode Island, 3,982
· West Virginia, 4,051
· Alaska, 4,302
· Pennsylvania, 4,320
· Nevada, 4,494
· Illinois, 4,604
· Oregon, 4,676
· Idaho, 4,832
· Ohio, 5,046
· Minnesota, 5,271
· Louisiana, 5,414
· New York, 5,629
· Washington, 5,670
· Indiana, 5,798
· Hawaii, 6,056
· Michigan, 6,104
· Kansas, 6,324
· Vermont, 6,328
· Colorado, 6,452
· Massachusetts, 7,199
· Washington, 7,851
· New Jersey, 8,019
· Missouri, 8,057
· Texas, 9,909
· Maryland, 10,136
· Oklahoma, 10,192
· Florida, 10,301
· Arizona, 10,804
· Connecticut, 11,225
· California, 12,159
· South Carolina, 12,855
· Kentucky, 13,321
· Maine, 13,553
· Delaware, 15,375
· North Carolina, 15,701
· Utah, 15,739
· Alabama, 18,261
· New Mexico, 18,759
· Tennessee, 18,889
· Arkansas, 21,445
· Georgia, 21,812
· Mississippi, 27,326
· New Hampshire, 34,689
· Virginia, 64,773
Map: Booze in the USA
· Interactive: North Dakota leads US in ratio of bars to residents [INFORUM]
· All Bars Coverage on Eater [-E-]
Number of bars per capita in the U.S. [Photo: INFORUM]