Alcohol costs money. Middle class is dead. Probably will see a lot more people making homemade things.
this post was submitted on 31 Jan 2026
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My mom and dad and myself and my younger brother are all alcoholics. Two of us have recovered, two of us have not.
My youngest brother is on the spectrum and refuses to touch alcohol at all because he's watched it destroy lives and steal souls.
That's how this chart plays out in my family., ymmv.
They have to spend like 80% of their income on housing. The rest on groceries and bills.
Now show cbd/pot use.
Isn't it common for people to start consuming alcohol with age? I found it disgusting still at 20
It’s because they can barely pay rent.
Yeah, poor people are notoriously sober
My alcohol consumption has dropped directly because of this. I use to get a six pack and a bottle of wine and go out a few times a month and now I literally can't afford any of it.
On July 1, 2024, the census estimates of the number of each generation of drinking age, if I'm reading this Excel spreadsheet correctly:
Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012, but as of 2024 the only legal drinking age was those born between 1997 and 2003): 31.3 million
Millennial (born between 1981 and 1996): 74.1 million
Gen X (born between 1965 and 1980): 65.6 million
Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964): 66.9 million
So assuming that 20-somethings have less money to spend on expensive alcohol, and recognizing that Gen Z has less than half the drinking age population as the other generations, it's not surprising for that generation to spend less on alcohol, even if their habits weren't different than the older generations.
Now, their habits actually are different, so that might stretch things further. But a better way to present the data would be adjusted per capita. And maybe looking at historical data about when prior generations were the same age.
This needs to be per capita, not total
Gen Z hasn't been 21 or older for as long as the other groups, thus they haven't spent as much on booze yet.
But it's true in gen Z outside US as well. So something like affordability is a problem globally for them.
Have you seen the price of a beer now? Each night at the pub ends up being $100+
Considering half of Gen Z isn't even legal drinking age yet, this isn't too surprising.
Plus with declining birthrates in developed countries there are probably fewer overall Gen Z people than older cohorts. So even if they drank at the same rate you could still expect the absolute amount of alcohol consumption to be lower.
By that logic it should be around 10B by now
People in their 20s tend to buy well drinks and cheap beer unless they're independently wealthy. Older people tend to have more expensive, or at least more specific, preferences.
Raw spending doesn't mean much in isolation.
No because the half that currently can't drink might drink twice as much
"Fading", more like jumped off a cliff.
There is no safe amount of alcohol to drink.
Everyone is broke.
They watched their parents make asses of themselves while drunk, and today everyone has a video camera in their hand.
I think this sums it up
Wow, I don’t spend nearly this amount on alcohol
Those are rookie numbers. Gotta push em up
Don't worry, I'm bringing the average back up again.
Other drugs are cheaper, and readily available.
https://northjerseyrecovery.com/why-gen-z-is-drinking-less-but-using-more-drugs/
Stimulants like Adderall and Xanax are often misused to cope with academic and social pressures.
I never knew benzodiazepines were stimulants.
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And often less harmfull than alcohol
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Because they’re weak.
In all seriousness, income has stayed about the same in nominal terms, but the cost of living has gone way up even between millennials and gen z. So really income has gone down and booze is much more of a luxury.
There’s part of it but also anecdotally a lot of us are aware that alcohol in pretty much any quality has negative effects and therefore don’t drink at all. There’s a lot less pressure to drink than in expect there was for other generations, it’s pretty normal for me to meet other people who prefer not to drink.
alcohol in pretty much any quality has negative effects
The key is that this guidance came out somewhere between millennial and gen z coming of age.
When I was a child the TV news would run "health" stories about how moderate amounts of red wine are good for you. It turned out those studies were funded by the alcohol industry.
Man I went to a party last week, had one glass of red wine and no other alcohol, and woke up the next morning with a killer headache. I’m 42 and not much of a drinker but this kind of reaction made me think it was specifically the red wine. I ain’t doing that again for a long while, if ever.
Now this is a half remembered anecdote so... pinch of salt.
But I do remeber something about some people having negative reactions to the tannins in red wine. So it might not so much be the alcohol.
Drug use, and especially problematic drug use, has low price elasticity and the US is a relatively high-income country. The cost of living is almost certainly a negligible factor in the decline of alcohol consumption.
Although most of the gains have gone to top earners, US real median household income has trended slightly upwards over time and is not "way [down]."
Moreover, high-income European countries where even fewer people are budget-constrained when it comes to drug use have also seen dramatic declines in alcohol consumption.
Normalize it for age. How much did GenX spend at 22 vs GenZ? It could be similar, but it’s not clear. Of course old people have more disposable income once the mortgage is paid off and GenZ can’t get a mortage, just an expensive rental.
There’s a big drop off in drinking overall and it’s a good thing. Yet genZ is back on nicotine.
Wait until you see Gen Alpha's spending on alcohol!
lol this thread not realizing it's a shitpost, half of gen z have not make it to drinking age and this data could be years old
We're less social, drinks in public spaces have gotten too expensive, weed
I would assume it’s because most of them are still children.
I suspect that smoking weed has replaced a lot of drinking for much of GenZ.
Millennial here. Pressure was there to drink when growing up. College everyone was boozing. You were weird if you didn't booze.
Times are different now and the pressure is off. I think this will be huge, plus weed is a way better vice. Hangover is basically zero, no long term effects with heavy use, and generally a fun time.
Rather debate the moon's creation than drag Becky out to the car again and hope she doesn't puke in my car.
Cocktails are $20 a pop. Hell, mocktails are like $15 a pop and they don't contain alcohol.
Is Gen Z even allowed to drink yet?
I've seen the line drawn a few different places, but generally Gen Z starts at around 1996-1998 or so. In any case, the oldest Gen Z have been drinking age for a while.
At least some of us are, yes. Im generally considered gen Z and ive been legally allowed to drink for years
The last gen z are nearly finished with high school. The oldest gen alpha kids are in high school. We're a year into gen beta being born.
Internet and games. Stay inside sober and have fun - including chatting with possible partners - instead of going out drinking trying to get laid.
/GenX who did the drinking variant. Gen Z has it better.
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