State Estimates of Underage Alcohol Use and Self-Purchase of Alcohol

More than a quarter, or 27.6 percent, of youth ages 12 to 20 drank alcohol in the past month, according to a national survey by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Utah has the lowest rate of underage drinking, with 13.7 percent of youth reporting recent alcohol use, and North Dakota and Vermont have the highest at about 40 percent.

The state-by-state analysis finds that almost 9 percent of youth who drank in the past month purchased their own alcohol. The highest rates were in Louisiana and the District of Columbia, where almost 20 percent of youth reported having made their own purchases, compared to about 3 percent in Alaska and New Mexico.

The report was released by Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA), a public health agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 

Read the report.