The numbers about beer consumption in America are usually robust. Beer Info claims beer consumption by people 21 years or over totals 28.2 gallons per person per year. That is about a six-pack per week. Since only a fraction of Americans drink beer, the figures for those who do have to be staggering on an annual basis.

The same research shows that beer consumption is usually high in the Plains States. North Dakota tops the list at 45.8 gallons a year. Montana is third at 41 gallons, The figure for South Dakota at 38.9.  At the far end of the spectrum is Utah at 20.2 gallons.

Lawn Love has been able to break out the best cities for beer lovers, which delivers very different results than state data does. It uses different metrics. Across America’s 180 largest cities it measured access to establishments where people drink beer. It also ranks what it calls “establishment quality”, a yardstick of consumer rankings. It looked at beer quality and costs. It listed its sources as BreweryDB, Eventbrite, Great American Beer Festival, Livability, Meetup, North American Brewers Association, World Beer Awards, and Yelp.

Each of the measurements was weighted to calculate an overall score among the 180 cities. The highest among them posted a score of 55.07. The lowest had a score of 14.46.

Two geographic areas dominated the list. Among the Pacific Northwest states, Spokane had a 55.07 score, the highest nationwide. Portland ranked second with a score of 53.41. Seattle ranked fourth with a score of 48.97.

Colorado had two spots. One was Denver at 49.43. The other was Fort Collins with a score of 43.36. The balance of the top 10 cities were spread across the country. Cincinnati had a rating of 48.24. Salt Lake City weighed in at 47.1. Boston had a score of 45.28. Pittsburgh has a score of 44.93. Finally, Fort Lauderdale had a score of 43.74.

The city with the worst score was San Bernadino with a score of 14.46.

Click here to see which is the best beer in each state.

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