While younger Americans are drinking less, Gen X is drinking more — a generational split that is reshaping the US bar and nightlife scene, according to a new study.
- 68%Share of US adults who drank alcohol in 2024
- 7.7%Heavy-drinking rate among 50-64 year-olds in 2024, up from 5.6% in 2018
- -5%Fall in total US alcohol consumption in 2025 (IWSR)
- 52Average age alcohol-related cirrhosis begins to appear
A pandemic-era shift that hasn't reversed for everyone
For the first time since before the pandemic, the percentage of US adults who drink any alcohol decreased between 2022 and 2024, according to a report published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. In 2018, 66% of US adults drank alcohol; that rose to 69% in 2020 as people retreated to their homes during the pandemic, and stayed there through 2022. By 2024, the share had eased to 68% — still above pre-pandemic levels, but the first drop since 2018.
One age group didn't follow the downward turn. Adults aged 50 to 64, which roughly corresponds to Generation X, were the only group in which drinking continued to increase. Heavy drinking in that cohort — defined as more than 15 drinks a week for men and eight for women — rose from 5.6% in 2018 to 7.7% in 2024. Over the same period, adults under 40 were the only group whose heavy-drinking rate fell.
We were already most worried about health-related risks for alcohol [in this age group], and we are seeing the highest increases in heavy drinking. That combination is particularly concerning.
Lee, a liver transplant specialist and the study's principal investigator, said the pattern echoes past crises. "The leading theory had been that in periods of stress, people increase their alcohol consumption to cope with that. We saw that with 9/11; we saw that with Hurricane Katrina," he said, of the pandemic-era rise that has persisted longest among older drinkers.
"Drinking patterns get set fairly early in life"
David Jernigan, a Boston University professor who has studied alcohol policy for decades, said Gen X's habits were shaped long before the pandemic. "They drank a lot in high school, and they have continued to drink a lot. Drinking patterns get set fairly early in life, and the sea change just hasn't reached that cohort."
That sea change is visible among younger adults: growing numbers of Gen Z drinkers are cutting back or abstaining entirely. "The health halo around alcohol has been largely discredited, and the younger generation, particularly the Gen Zers, they seem to be getting that health message that alcohol is actually not good for you," Jernigan said, referring to the retreat from the once-popular idea that moderate drinking, such as a daily glass of red wine, carried health benefits.
A real health risk
The rise in heavy drinking among 50 to 64 year-olds is especially concerning, Lee said, because the average age at which alcohol-related cirrhosis begins to appear is 52, and most alcohol-associated cancers occur in people 50 or older. Researchers say the trend deserves closer clinical attention precisely because it involves an age group already more vulnerable to those conditions.
Bars adapt to a shrinking late-night crowd
The shift is also being felt commercially. US alcohol consumption fell 5% in 2025 from the year before, according to drinks-industry data company IWSR, squeezing venues that built their business models around 20- and 30-something late-night drinkers.
"You would expect that to become less and less and we would try to cycle through the new generations that are coming up," said Andrew Bochenek, owner of The Magic Bag, a concert venue in suburban Detroit that has booked Gen X-oriented acts for 30 years. "But in light of what is happening with Gen Z and later millennials not drinking alcohol as much, it's made us really lean into the Gen X crowds." His alcohol sales have still fallen roughly 25% since 2019. "I don't think it's a bad thing that [younger adults] are not drinking. I just think that for our business model and for others like us, it's really difficult to maintain that same level of operation when you don't have the income to support it."
Some venues are building entirely new formats around older, earlier-to-bed drinkers. Laura Baginski launched Earlybirds Club in 2024 — described on its website as a dance party for women "who have [expletive] to do in the morning" — running gatherings from 6pm to 10pm with 80s, 90s and 2000s music. The company has sold out events in Boston, Berkeley and Chicago, and two nights at Washington DC's 1,200-capacity 9:30 Club. "Going out and having a good time is really important for your mental health," said Baginski, 51. "Alcohol is a part of the experience for a lot of people, especially when they arrive at 6pm and are feeling a little like, 'I haven't gone out dancing in so long. I think I need a little liquid courage here.'"
