Had atleast one drink in the past month, Chronically Drinking and Binge Drinkers by age, sex, educational attainment, and income level. Banded in 3 year increments since 2012, 2002 and 2006 respectively for Erie County. Chronically drinking defined as average of 2 or more drinks in the past 30 days. Binge drinkers defines as males having 5 or more drinks on one occasion or females having 4 or more drinks on one occasion.

Excessive drinking increases an individual's risk of poor health outcomes, including motor vehicle crashes and unintentional injuries, and is often a contributing factor in child abuse, domestic violence, suicide, and homicide.

Age

Since 2006, the percentage of binge drinkers in Erie County has been consistently higher among the 18-44 age group compared to other age groups. For the years 2020-2022, the rate of chronic drinking was equal at 9% for both the 18-44 and 45-64 age groups.

Educational Attainment

Between 2020 and 2022, the highest rate of chronic drinking in Erie County was observed among individuals with a high school diploma, reaching 8%. In contrast, binge drinking has been more prevalent among those with some college education over the past few years.

Income

From 2006 to 2008, people with an income of $50,000 or more showed a higher percentage of chronic drinking. The same pattern was seen among binge drinkers in Erie County during this time, meaning that both chronic and binge drinking were more common among those with higher incomes.

Over Time

Chronic alcohol consumption has stable between the 2014-to-2016 and 2020-to-2022 year bands, with 7% for the entire reported population. Similarly, the percentage of total Binge drinker has also been stable since 2018 with 19%.

EVS analyzes the data in each topic category using indicators, which report a targeted and digestible number, rate, or amount to represent Erie County as a whole. While this does not cover every aspect of the topic, it assists in establishing Erie's performance relative to the prior year(s). The indicators for the Health: Alcohol Use topic are:

This indicator measures the percentage of Erie County residents reported as having heavy alcohol consumption (consuming 2 or more drinks every day). The trend for Chronic Alcohol Consumption in Erie County remained stable between the 2018-2020 and 2020-2022 periods, with a consistent reported rate of 7%. This indicates that there was no significant change in the percentage of residents engaging in heavy alcohol consumption in Erie County.

Data from the PA Department of Health as of 08/2024.