The Best Cities for Sober Living

From the “sober-curious” movement to Dry January to quitting alcohol altogether, many Americans have been re-evaluating their relationship with booze. Mocktails, NA beer, and other types of non-alcoholic beverages are exploding in popularity, and a JAMA Pediatrics study found that alcohol use is declining overall in younger generations. But as any non-drinker knows, lots of major social activities still revolve around alcohol, and it can be challenging to avoid if you’re in an area known for its drinking culture.

Anyone has the power to stop drinking, anywhere — but where you live can have a significant effect on what your sober lifestyle looks like. Alcohol is at the center of the social scene in some cities, while others have plenty of options for non-drinkers. We crunched the numbers to determine which cities are best for non-drinkers who want to be part of thriving sober communities.

Key Findings

• Based on the metrics of our study, America’s most sober-friendly city is Rutland, VT. Coming in right behind Rutland are Newark, DE, and Jersey City, NJ. 
• The least sober-friendly city in the United States is Missoula, MT.
• Rutland, VT, is also America’s best city for alcohol recovery resources. Aberdeen, SD, is the worst.
• Wichita, KS was the number one city in our rankings for alcohol-free social options. Naperville, IL, came in last.
• Honolulu, HI, was our top-ranked community for those who want to build a network of non-drinkers around them. 

We’ll take a deeper dive into all of these factors in just a minute. Right now, let’s look at the big picture: What are America’s best cities for sober living, and conversely, which ones have a drinking culture that might make it challenging to avoid alcohol?

Best and Worst Cities for Sober Living

For the best sober cities, we looked for cities that ranked highly in fields like:

• Percentage of residents identifying as non-drinkers
• The average number of sober events per month per 100,000 residents 
• Number of snack and nonalcoholic beverage bars per 100,000 residents
• Number of AA locations per 100,000 residents
• Number of treatment and recovery centers per 100,000 residents

We also looked for cities with low numbers in these areas:

• Number of drinking establishments per 100,000 residents
• Percentage of residents binge drinking in the past 30 days

We combined these factors and adjusted them for each city’s population size — and here’s what we learned:

Best Cities for Sobriety

• According to our data, Rutland, VT, is the most sober-friendly city in the United States. While this tiny rural city of 15,000 actually has a lower-than-average percentage of non-drinkers, its relatively high concentration of sobriety resources and sober events put it over the top. 
• Number two and three on our sober-friendly cities list are Newark, DE, and Jersey City, NJ. Newark boasts a higher-than-average number of treatment centers, while Jersey City has a relatively high percentage of non-drinkers and a wide availability of sober social spots.
• Unsurprisingly, Provo, UT, and West Valley City, UT, come in at numbers four and five. Many Utahns have religious beliefs that forbid or discourage drinking alcohol, and as a result, they consume the least alcohol of any state’s residents. 

Worst Cities for Sobriety

• Missoula, MT was the overall least sober-friendly city in our research, with a high binge-drinking rate and low numbers of non-drinkers. Another Montana city, Great Falls, came in at number seven.
• Madison, WI, is another city with a big-time drinking culture, enough to land it at number two in our least-sober-friendly list. Its fellow Wisconsin city, Green Bay, also scored poorly for sober social options.
• Comparatively high rates of binge drinking and a lack of recovery resources were enough to put two cities in the Dakotas — Aberdeen, SD, and Bismarck, ND — on our list of cities where sobriety is incredibly challenging.

Choosing the Best City for You

So, which cities can provide the best sober living experience? It depends on what kind of support is most important to you. For example, some people may still be able to hang out over drinks if they have recovery resources available. Others might be OK with fewer AA meetings and recovery centers so long as they have sober social options and a community of non-drinkers. 

According to the data we crunched, these are the top three and bottom three cities in each category:

• The data shows that Rutland, VT, has the highest availability of recovery resources, while Aberdeen, SD, has the lowest. 
• Wichita, KS, is a notable hotspot for sober social options, while they’re hard to come by Chicago suburb of Naperville, IL. 
• Honolulu, HI, has a notably large community of nondrinkers, while Missoula again scores lowest on this metric. 

How Does Your City Rank?

Curious about how your city’s sober scene measures up? Check the numbers on every city scored by our survey:

For some people, an Ignition Interlock Device (IID) or portable alcohol monitoring device could be part of the process of getting sober or cutting down on drinking. Smart Start can help you get back on the road with affordable leasing options on IIDs and expert program advisors who will help you find an IID that fits your program requirements.  

Methodology

To determine the most and least sober-friendly cities, we analyzed 162 cities in the United States, including the 50 biggest cities in the country and the three biggest cities in each state. 

Each city was evaluated on the number of AA locations per 100,000 residents, the number of drinking establishments per 100,000 residents, the number of snack and nonalcoholic beverage bars per 100,000 residents, the number of treatment and recovery centers per 100,000 residents, the percentage of residents who have participated in binge-drinking in the past 30 days, the percentage of residents who identify as non-drinkers, and the average number of sober events each month per 100,000 residents. 

To determine their overall score, the following weighting was given to each category:

• Number of AA locations per 100,000 residents: 17%
• Number of drinking establishments per 100,000 residents: 11%
• Number of snack and nonalcoholic beverage bars per 100,000 residents: 11%
• Number of treatment and recovery centers per 100,000 residents: 17%
• Percentage of residents binge drinking in the past 30 days: 16.5%
• Percentage of residents identifying as non-drinkers: 16.5%
• Average number of sober events per month per 100,000 residents: 11%