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DENVER (KDVR) — For how much Coloradans drink, they sure are a healthy lot.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released dashboard data this week of its Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a range of health and wellness metrics for U.S. states and territories in 2021. The idea is to assess the public’s health in as many arenas as possible. Items encompass income, education, marriage status, disease prevalence, alcohol and tobacco use, exercise regularity, nutrition and obesity rates.

While the data shows Coloradans are nearly dead last in the prevalence of various life-threatening illnesses, it also shows Colorado’s famed beer culture at work.

Colorado ranks high for alcohol consumption.

It has the nation’s fourth-highest rate of survey respondents who drank alcohol in the last 30 days. Nearly two-thirds (61%) of Colorado’s adults have had a drink in the last month. Only Vermont, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia have higher rates.

Coloradans also drink more heavily than most.

The CDC classifies “heavy drinking” as more than 14 drinks a week for a man and more than seven for a woman. Colorado has the nation’s ninth-highest rate of heavy drinking, with 7.3% of adults taking in at least that level of weekly alcoholic beverages.

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