The holiday season is officially over, and you have one last Sunday to sleep off your hangover before it's back to work in 2015.
To get an idea of where Americans are most likely to be hungover today, we constructed the Business Insider Hangover Index.
Our two main sources were the CDC's 2011 Behavioural Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), an annual survey of Americans' health habits, and the Census Bureau's 2012 County Business Patterns (CBP) program, which tracks the number and size of businesses in counties and metropolitan areas across the country. A more detailed description of the methodology can be found here.
Once again, the Midwest dominated the list with Ohio and Kansas boasting multiple cities in the top 25. Big cities like San Francisco and Denver also made it onto this year's list.
#25 Denver, Colo.
Business Insider Hangover Score: 68.66
6.6% admitted to heavy drinking
21% admitted to binge drinking
14.5 bars per 100,000 people
22.4 beer/wine/liquor stores per 100,000 people
1.2 alcoholic beverage producing establishments per 100,000 residents
The CDC defines binge drinking as 5 or more drinks in one sitting for men, and 4 or more drinks in one sitting for women. The Hangover Score is the average of the percentile rankings of the five categories, and has a theoretical range from 0 to 100. Read the complete methodology here.
#24 St. Louis, Mo.
Business Insider Hangover Score: 68.84
8.8% admitted to heavy drinking
22.9% admitted to binge drinking
19.5 bars per 100,000 people
5.3 beer/wine/liquor stores per 100,000 people
0.9 alcoholic beverage producing establishments per 100,000 residents
The CDC defines binge drinking as 5 or more drinks in one sitting for men, and 4 or more drinks in one sitting for women. The Hangover Score is the average of the percentile rankings of the five categories, and has a theoretical range from 0 to 100. Read the complete methodology here.
#23 Billings, Mont.
Business Insider Hangover Score: 68.94
6.9% admitted to heavy drinking
18.8% admitted to binge drinking
44.8 bars per 100,000 people
8 beer/wine/liquor stores per 100,000 people
4.9 alcoholic beverage producing establishments per 100,000 residents
The CDC defines binge drinking as 5 or more drinks in one sitting for men, and 4 or more drinks in one sitting for women. The Hangover Score is the average of the percentile rankings of the five categories, and has a theoretical range from 0 to 100. Read the complete methodology here.
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