Wilmington one of top ten drunkest cities in America

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Wilmington has a big drinking problem. At least that’s what one website is saying about the Port City. According to Mainstreet.com, Wilmington is ranked the tenth drunkest city in America.

A total of 180 metropolitan areas across the country were analyzed, and the cities were ranked according to the percentage of residents who admitted to heavy drinking and binge drinking.

With both UNCW and Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington, some say that the majority of heavy drinkers and binge drinkers are students.

“There are many college students here,” says Crystil Manion, a patron at the Fox & Hound. “Obviously, when you have a large group of college students, young or old, if you’re in college you’re going to want to party.”

According to Mainstreet.com, 7.5 percent of Wilmington’s population is made up of heavy drinkers and more than one fifth of the population falls into the binge drinking category.

“You also have the Marine base right in Jacksonville, so they’re always getting deployed or getting back from deployment and they just want to celebrate,” says Michele Jonza, a bartender in Wilmington.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention define heavy drinking as men having more than two drinks a day and women having more than one a day. The CDC says a man has to have five or more drinks at a time on one or more occassions and women have to have four or more to be considered binge drinkers.