Green Bay rated drunkest city in America

As if a city best known for football and beer needs another excuse to party.  

Well, bottoms up, Green Bay. We have another trophy to put in the case. 24/7 Wall St., a Delaware-based financial news and opinion corporation, just rated Green Bay the drunkest city in America.

"The excessive drinking rate among adults in Green Bay is the highest of any metro area in the country," according to a study released Wednesday. The group analyzed self-reported data from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. The data was collected across nearly 400 metro areas. 

Green Bay's No. 1 ranking shows a two-spot jump from last year's drunkest city list, surpassing former No. 1 Appleton, which fell to third place. 

The study notes Green Bay has 138 bars and more than 26 percent of adult residents regularly drink to excess or binge drink — the national average is 18 percent. Binge drinking is defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as men consuming five or more alcoholic drinks in less than two hours, and women consuming four or more alcoholic drinks in less than two hours.

The findings show a trend in Wisconsin overall, too. It's the second year the state has beat out all other states for the most spots on the list. Of the 20 drunkest cities in the country, 10 are Wisconsin cities: Green Bay (No. 1), Eau Claire (No. 2), Appleton (No. 3), Madison (No. 4), Oshkosh (No. 6), Wausau (No. 9), La Crosse (No. 10), Fond du Lac (No. 12), Sheboygan (No. 15) and Milwaukee rounding out the top 20. 

The study also found cities with heavy drinking tend to have better-educated, higher earning and healthier populations than cities with the lowest excessive drinking rates. 

Some might argue being known as a drunk city is hardly anything to celebrate — and in some respects, they'd be right. 

The CDC reports binge drinkers are 14 times more likely to be involved in alcohol-impaired driving. That in mind, Green Bay is one of only five metro areas nationwide where more than half of all its deadly car crashes involve alcohol. 

Fast facts

» Nationwide, there are about 1.3 bars for every 10,000 people

» In 15 of the 20 heaviest drinking cities, the concentration of bars is at least double the national ratio

» In 13 of the the 20 heaviest drinking cities, the median age is lower than the 37.8 national median

The top 20 drunkest cities in America

1. Green Bay

2. Eau Claire

3. Appleton

4. Madison

5. Fargo, N.D.

6. Oshkosh-Neenah

7. Missoula, Mont.

8. Grand Forks, N.D.

9. Wausau

10. La Crosse-Onalaska 

11. Mankato-North Mankato, Minn.

12. Fond du Lac

13. Iowa City, Iowa

14. Dubuque, Iowa

15. Sheboygan

16. Watertown-Fort Drum, N.Y.

17. Lincoln, Neb.

18. Fairbanks, Alaska

19. Ames, Iowa

20. Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis