You'll Be Surprised by the Drunkest Counties in Indiana

Many folks here in Indiana like to enjoy adult beverages, but where in the Hoosier State are they drinking the most?

It's extremely rare that I have an alcoholic drink. Especially since I had kids, I just don't have the time or desire for them. Even when I did have them, I was never one to excessively drink. One or two beers and I was good. The feeling of being drunk was never something that I enjoyed. Especially the morning after...we all know that feeling is miserable. I say all of that to say that drinking was never really my thing. However, many Hoosiers do enjoy indulging in adult beverages.

John Lund/Annabelle Breakey

What do you think of when you think of places in Indiana that are known for drinking? If you're like me, you'd think maybe a very rural county, or the opposite, a more urban county with lots of party places. A county can easily get a reputation for being a "party county" or a place where there's a lot of drinking because of several factors, including an abundance of pubs/bars, college towns, or events and festivals centered around alcohol consumption. All of these factors could contribute to a county being known for excessive drinking.

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What are the Drunkest Counties in Indiana?

Now, there is really no way to know this with 100% confidence. Unless they started asking alcohol-related questions on the Census, we’ve got to rely on the algorithms that have been built to calculate these results. Speaking of which, the folks at IntoxiStates used data from the latest annual datasets of the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps (CHR&R) program. That data revealed the "drunkest states in America." Wisconsin is the drunkest state in America, with 25.29% of people in the state being excessive drinkers. Indiana was among the more average states when it comes to drinking, with 18.16% of the people being excessive drinkers. So, let's dive a little deeper into this data to find out which Indiana counties have the most excessive drinkers.

Indiana's Drunkest Counties

According to IntoxiStates, these are the drunkest counties in Indiana. Let's see if the results surprise you.

Gallery Credit: Travis Sams

Are you surprised by this at all? It should be noted that even though these are the drunkest counties in Indiana, the state as a whole is about average when it comes to alcohol consumption per capita in the nation, as I mentioned earlier. So that means these cities are still not nearly as bad as many counties in other states.

KEEP READING: 40 Real Indiana Towns with Quirky, Weird, and Funny Names

Outside the major cities, the Hoosier state is full of tiny little towns you've probably passed through on your way to one of those cities. Most of them are likely 100 to 150 years old, or older, and have been around far longer than the large metropolitan areas such as Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, South Bend, and Evansville. Typically, they were started by early settlers who found their way to the state and decided to make it home. Eventually, others would join them, and a community was formed. Over time, as the surrounding areas grew, most of them were folded into those areas and governed by the nearest city or county's governing body officially making them "unincorporated," meaning they did not have their own formally organized municipal government.

A scroll through Wikipedia's long list of unincorporated communities in Indiana shows several of them have names that by today's standards would be considered weird, quirky, or just downright right funny. These are my 40 favorities.

Gallery Credit: Ryan O'Bryan

30 Bizarre (and Real) Indiana High School Mascots

According to High School.com, there are 682 high schools in Indiana. 555 of those are public schools, while the remaining 127 are private. A majority of those schools have chosen typical mascots to represent them, like eagles, tigers, lions, jets, patriots, and so on and so forth. But, these 30 schools decided to go, well, a different direction.

List Source: "List of High Schools in Indiana" Wikipedia

Gallery Credit: Ryan O'Bryan

See 11 Unique Attractions You'll Only Find in Indiana

From the World's Largest Ball of Paint to a pink elephant drinking a martini, the Hoosier State is filled with quirky little things worth a detour on your next road trip.

Gallery Credit: Ryan O'Bryan