The share of Americans who drink alcohol has fallen to the lowest level in nearly nine decades of polling, while wine is finding its strongest support among older consumers and women, according to a new Gallup survey.
Just 54% of U.S. adults said they drink alcohol, matching last year’s record low and marking the smallest share since Gallup began tracking drinking habits in 1939.
The findings add to evidence of a broad shift in American attitudes toward alcohol. Drinking rates have declined across most major demographic groups, more Americans now view moderate drinking as harmful to their health, and younger consumers are showing a stronger preference for spirits over wine.
For the wine industry, the demographic divide is particularly stark. Wine is most popular among drinkers aged 55 and older, while 45% of female drinkers name it as their preferred alcoholic beverage, compared with just 15% of men.
Drinking rate falls from 62% to 54%
Gallup’s latest Consumption Habits survey, conducted July 1-19 among U.S. adults aged 18 and older, found that the drinking rate remained at 54% for a second consecutive year.
The rate has fallen sharply in recent years, from 62% in 2023 to 58% in 2024 and 54% in 2025.
The previous low in Gallup’s historical polling was 55% in 1958. The share of Americans who said they drank alcohol reached a high of 71% from 1976 through 1978.
The decline has occurred across most major demographic groups, including men and women, white and nonwhite adults and different age groups.
Political differences have also emerged. Compared with 2023, drinking rates have fallen significantly among Republicans and independents, while Democrats have not recorded a similar decline.
Health concerns rise
The decline in drinking has coincided with growing concern about alcohol’s health effects.
Gallup found that 86% of Americans have heard at least something about recent research into the long-term health effects of alcohol, up from 79% in 2024. The share who said they were very or somewhat familiar with the research rose to 54% from 49%.
Just over half of U.S. adults, or 51%, now say drinking one or two alcoholic beverages a day is harmful to health. That is slightly below last year’s record 53%, but only the second time since Gallup began asking the question in 2001 that a majority has considered moderate drinking harmful.
The shift from earlier attitudes is substantial.
In 2001, 27% of Americans said moderate drinking was harmful, while 22% believed it was beneficial and 46% said it made no difference to health.
Today, 40% say moderate drinking has no effect on health and just 6% consider it beneficial.
Wine trails beer and spirits
Beer remains Americans’ preferred alcoholic beverage, though its lead has narrowed. Among drinkers, 36% said they prefer beer, 32% chose spirits and 30% selected wine.
The longer-term trend has favored spirits.
Since 2016, the share of drinkers who prefer spirits has risen 12 percentage points, while beer has fallen 7 points. Wine preference has remained broadly stable at about 30%.
The age breakdown, however, points to a challenge for the wine industry.
Wine is the leading choice among drinkers aged 55 and older, while spirits are more popular among younger and middle-aged adults. Among younger adults, spirits are now roughly level with beer.
Wine preference also differs sharply by gender.
Forty-five percent of female drinkers prefer wine, compared with 15% of men. Beer is preferred by 56% of male drinkers but just 16% of women. Spirits are favored by 37% of women and 26% of men.
The figures suggest that while wine’s overall share of preference has remained relatively stable, its appeal is increasingly concentrated among older consumers and women.
Alcohol consumption remains subdued
Americans who drink reported consuming an average of 3.2 alcoholic beverages over the previous seven days, up slightly from 2.8 last year but below the average of 3.9 recorded across the five previous surveys.
The share of Americans who say they sometimes drink more than they should also fell to a record low of 13%.
Before 2000, that figure typically exceeded 20%. It reached a high of 35% in 1989.
Nonalcoholic alternatives gain ground
Gallup also asked Americans for the first time about their use of nonalcoholic beer, wine and spirits as substitutes for alcoholic beverages.
Seventeen percent said they had consumed such products as an alternative to alcohol in the past year.
The rate was higher among current drinkers, at 20%, than among nondrinkers, at 14%.
Among drinkers who use nonalcoholic alternatives, 38% said they are consuming them more frequently than in the past, more than twice the 17% who said they are drinking them less often.
The findings point to a broader shift in the U.S. drinking market as fewer Americans consume alcohol and concerns about its health effects grow. For the wine industry, the demographic picture presents an additional challenge: its strongest support is increasingly concentrated among older consumers, while younger drinkers gravitate toward other categories.
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