Cincinnati is ranked first in the nation for beer drinkers for the second year in a row, while Cleveland landed at 10 and Columbus (27) and Akron (37).
Through the first half of 2020, beer sales in the U.S. rose about 16% compared to the same period in 2019, according to Chicago-based market research firm IRI.
According to the Smart Asset analysis, Dayton has 5.7 breweries per 100,000 residents and averages 57 beers per brewery. The Gem City has 16 bars per 100,000 residents and the average pint cost $4.
The same analysis for Cincinnati shows 10.2 breweries per 100,000 residents and averages 112 beers per brewery. The Queen City has 22.8 bars per 100,000 residents and the average pint cost $4.
- Priciest pint will cost you a Hamilton. The most expensive average pint in the country is in San Leandro, California, a suburban town in the San Francisco Bay Area. The average pint in this town is a whopping $10, compared to the average price of $4.59 across all 384 cities in the study.
- Best to belly up to the bar in mid-sized cities. If you’re a beer drinker, don’t look to the biggest cities in the country. Instead, consider cities in the next tier down in terms of size. Eight of the top 10 cities in our study – all except Portland, Oregon and Denver, Colorado – have a population of 400,000 or fewer residents.
- The top 10 cities are brimming with breweries. The average number of breweries per 100,000 residents is 3.88 across the whole study, while it is more than triple this figure across the top 10, at 12.47.
This is how SmartAsset compared its metrics:
- Total number of breweries. Data comes from ratebeer.com and was pulled in November 2020.
- Number of breweries per 100,000 residents. Data on microbreweries and brewpubs comes from ratebeer.com and was pulled in November 2020. Data on population comes from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 1-year American Community Survey and is measured at the county level.
- Average number of beers per brewery. Data comes from ratebeer.com and was pulled in November 2020.
- Number of bars per 100,000 residents. Data on bars comes from the 2018 County Business Patterns Survey. Data on population comes from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 1-year American Community Survey and is measured at the county level.
- Average price for a pint of domestic draught beer. Data comes from Numbeo.com and was pulled in November 2019.
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