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Fewer American teens reported various forms of substance use in 2025 compared to prior years, according to results of the National Survey on Drug Use & Health, released yesterday. That includes the prevalence of lifetime, past year and past month alcohol consumption as well as past month use of tobacco, cannabis or any illicit drug among 12-17 year olds. Those were some of the “encouraging trends” highlighted in the press release from SAMHSA, the federal agency that conducts the survey. However, total underage consumption ticked up slightly, driven by a small increase in past month drinking reported by college-aged young adults. Among older adults, consumption continued to slip. In fact, the prevalence of any drinking in the past month declined from 2024 to 2025 for every ~5-year age group between 26 and 64 and all adults aged 65+.Teen Drinking Dips Below 6% Fewer and fewer Americans begin drinking during middle and high school, NSDUH shows. The estimated number of 12-17 year olds who initiated consumption declined 14% from over 1.8 million in 2021 to fewer than 1.6 million in 2025. Now, just 20% of all 12-17 year olds have ever had a drink, down about 15% since just 2021. Self-reported consumption in the past month among this age group fell faster, down 18% in 4 years to 5.9% in 2025. The prevalence of both binge drinking (consuming at least 4 or 5 drinks on one occasion) and “heavy drinking” (5+ binge drinking days) in the past month dropped by a quarter. Recall, NSDUH adjusted its methodology during the Covid-19 pandemic, so results from before and after that point are not strictly comparable. But teen drinking was considerably more common a decade or two ago. Ten years ago, 10% of 12-17 year olds reported any past-month drinking, already down close to 40% from the 16.5% saying so in 2005.College Consumption Bounces Back Similar ongoing declines were not seen among all underage (12-20 year old) Americans. Past month consumption, binge drinking and heavy drinking all ticked up among this larger group in 2025 compared to 2024, even though long-term trends still mostly show declines. One-year increases were all driven by changes among 18-20 year olds, who remain far more likely to report these consumption patterns than younger respondents. For instance, well over half of all 18-20 year olds have ever had a drink, while 45.5% reported any drinking in the past year. Just over 28% consumed any alcohol in the past month, up almost 1 point from 2024, NSDUH results show.Consumption Slips Among Legal Drinking Age Adults, Under 50% of Adults 26+ Once folks turn 21, they’re about twice as likely to drink, according to these results. The prevalence of past month drinking jumps to 57.4% among 21-25 year olds, according to last year’s survey results. But that’s down a point and a half from just 2024 and 5.5 points (-9%) since 2021. These changes among the youngest legal drinkers drove declines in the prevalence of consumption among 18-25 year olds. And notably, neither binge drinking nor heavy drinking declined within this age group in 2025, though both metrics remain about 11% below 2021 levels.Consumption fell more consistently among older Americans. Just 48.4% of all adults aged 26 and up reported any drinking in the past month, down over 2.5 points in one year. That’s the first time the measure slipped below 50% in NSDUH. (It held at a roughly consistent 53-57% from 2002 to 2019 under the earlier methodology.) Driving the decline, monthly drinking prevalence fell by about 3-4 points among 35-39, 40-44 and 45-49 year olds, plus adults aged 65+. Self-reported consumption dipped for every other group by 0.4-2.1 points.Binge drinking also declined among all adults aged 26+, with increases seen only among 30-34 and 60-64 year olds. The prevalence of heavy drinking held roughly stable. Both of these more risky consumption patterns are down double-digits since 2021. Cheers,

Underage Drinking Plateaued in 2025, NSDUH Shows, as Adult Drinking Slips Further

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