A night on the town might run you anywhere from $20 to $100 — but the hidden costs have a broader economic impact.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this month released a study that found excessive drinking cost the nation around $250 billion in 2010 — measured by factors like lost productivity, early death, crime and car crashes.
According to The Washington Post, the federal government covers about $100 billion of that cost through spending on criminal justice, Medicare and Medicaid. State, local and federal taxes on alcohol come to $16 billion.
The researchers actually broke the data down to determine the cost to society of one drink. And the Post analyzed that data to show how those costs vary by state.
Here’s the map, which shows that Maine’s cost per drink is around $.92.
Want to see what your drinking habit costs? The Post built this calculator. Just pick the state and say how many drinks you have a week. (A drink here is measured by a judicious bartender’s standards: one 12-ounce beer, a 1.5-ounce shot of hard liquor or a 5-ounce glass of wine.)
Featured homepage image by Bernt Rostad | on Flickr