Millennials spend more on alcohol than any previous generation did at the same age, but Baby Boomers are seeing the sharpest rise in problem drinking as they age. The answer depends on whether you’re measuring dollars spent, volume consumed, or rates of alcohol-related harm, and each metric points to a different generation.
Millennials Spend the Most on Alcohol
When researchers compared household alcohol spending across generations at the same life stage, Millennials came out on top. A household headed by a 25-year-old in 2016 spent roughly $200 on alcohol in a single quarter, after adjusting for inflation. That same household profile spent about $107 in 1986 (Baby Boomers), $126 in 1996 (Gen X), and $104 in 2006 (older Millennials). That’s nearly double the spending of Boomers at the same age.
Part of this is driven by what Millennials choose to drink. They gravitate toward flavored alcoholic beverages like hard seltzers, ciders, and flavored malt drinks, along with wine, which tend to carry higher price tags per serving than domestic beer. Brands like Truly, Angry Orchard, and Twisted Tea have grown largely on the backs of younger buyers drawn to variety, flavor, and products marketed as lighter or lower-calorie alternatives. So Millennials may be spending more per drink rather than necessarily drinking more drinks.
Baby Boomers Have the Fastest-Rising Problem
While Millennials lead in spending, the most concerning trend in alcohol consumption belongs to Baby Boomers and older adults. Researchers at NYU’s Rory Meyers College of Nursing examined national data on adults 50 and older and found significant increases across the board: past-year drinking, past-month drinking, binge drinking, and diagnosed alcohol use disorders all climbed.
This matters more for Boomers than it would for younger groups. Aging bodies process alcohol differently. Lean body mass decreases over time, which means the same number of drinks produces a higher blood alcohol concentration than it would have at 30. Older adults also tend to take more medications that interact badly with alcohol, and many are managing chronic conditions like high blood pressure or diabetes that alcohol worsens. Binge drinking increased even among older adults who reported fair or poor health and multiple chronic conditions, which is a particularly risky combination.
The trend is especially pronounced among women. While men still drink more overall, the rate of increase in binge drinking and alcohol use disorders has been steeper for women over 50. Women experience a greater loss of lean body mass with age than men do, so they feel the effects of alcohol at lower amounts. A pattern of drinking that might have been manageable at 40 can become genuinely dangerous at 65.
Gen Z Is Pulling in the Opposite Direction
At the other end of the spectrum, Gen Z drinks less than any recent generation at the same age. A Gallup survey found that the share of adults under 35 who say they drink at all dropped from 72% in the early 2000s to 62% by the early 2020s. That’s a ten-percentage-point decline in just two decades.
Several forces are driving this shift. Gen Z grew up with widespread public health messaging about alcohol’s risks, and they came of age alongside the rise of the “sober curious” movement, which treats not drinking as a lifestyle choice rather than something that needs explaining. The explosion of non-alcoholic beer, wine, and spirits has made it easier to opt out socially. Gen Z also tends to be more health-conscious and more open about mental health, which makes them less likely to use alcohol as a coping mechanism and more aware of its depressive effects.
How Each Generation Compares
- Baby Boomers (born 1946–1964): Rising rates of binge drinking and alcohol use disorders in their 60s and 70s, with particular health risks due to aging, chronic conditions, and medication interactions.
- Gen X (born 1965–1980): Often described as the “forgotten middle” in alcohol research. Their spending at age 25 fell between Boomers and Millennials, and they don’t show the dramatic trend lines of the generations on either side.
- Millennials (born 1981–1996): The highest spenders on alcohol at the same life stage as previous generations, driven partly by pricier beverage choices like craft cocktails, wine, and hard seltzers.
- Gen Z (born 1997–2012): The least likely to drink at all, with a measurable decline in alcohol use compared to Millennials and Gen X at the same age.
Spending More Doesn’t Mean Drinking More
The distinction between spending and consumption is important. Millennials outspend every previous generation on alcohol, but that reflects shifting tastes toward premium and craft products, not necessarily higher volumes. A $15 four-pack of hard seltzer costs more than a $10 twelve-pack of domestic beer, but it contains far less alcohol overall. Millennials are also more likely to drink wine, which costs more per serving than beer.
Meanwhile, Boomers may not be outspending younger generations, but the volume and frequency of their drinking is climbing at an age when the body is least equipped to handle it. From a public health perspective, that makes Boomers the generation with the most pressing alcohol problem right now, even if Millennials top the spending charts and Gen X quietly occupies the middle ground.
If you’re looking for a single answer: Millennials spend the most, Boomers are experiencing the fastest growth in heavy and problematic drinking, and Gen Z is drinking the least. The generation that “drinks the most” depends entirely on how you define the question.