Drugs & alcohol · FBI arrest data · 2024
Liquor law violations Arrests
87,605 arrests for liquor law violations were reported across the U.S. in 2024 — 1.3% of all reported arrests.
Who was arrested for liquor law violations
By sex & age
Shares of all liquor law violations arrests.
By race & ethnicity
Agencies report race and ethnicity separately from the age/sex counts, so shares below are of the 84,162 race entries reported (66,752 ethnicity entries) — a different universe than the total above, which it can undershoot or occasionally exceed.
| White | 64,055 | 76.1% |
| Black or African American | 13,621 | 16.2% |
| American Indian / Alaska Native | 4,636 | 5.5% |
| Asian / Pacific Islander | 1,850 | 2.2% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 14,506 | 21.7% |
States with the most liquor law violations arrests
Reported arrests, 2024 — reporting coverage varies by state.
| State | Arrests | Share of state's arrests |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 6,356 | 4.7% |
| Wisconsin | 5,848 | 3.1% |
| Texas | 4,934 | 0.9% |
| Arizona | 4,431 | 2.1% |
| South Carolina | 3,425 | 2.2% |
| Utah | 3,286 | 3.2% |
| Minnesota | 3,220 | 2.7% |
| Ohio | 3,213 | 1.9% |
| Pennsylvania | 3,156 | 1.3% |
| Michigan | 2,932 | 1.7% |
| Nebraska | 2,878 | 5.2% |
| Florida | 2,872 | 1.3% |
| Colorado | 2,664 | 1.5% |
| Tennessee | 2,481 | 1.0% |
| North Dakota | 2,184 | 7.5% |
More drugs & alcohol arrests
About this data
- Counts are arrests, not people. One person arrested twice counts twice; an arrest with several charges counts once, under the most serious charge.
- Reported agencies only. Figures cover the ~14,500 agencies in the FBI's 2024 Uniform Crime Reporting arrest (ASR) file — about 94–95% of the FBI's official national total, which additionally counts agencies that report only through NIBRS. Nothing here is estimated for non-reporting agencies, so totals slightly undercount and are not strictly comparable across areas with different reporting coverage.
- Location is the arresting agency's headquarters, not where the arrest happened. Multi-jurisdiction agencies (state police, sheriffs, transit police) concentrate in one county — county figures are approximate, and about 3% of arrests come from agencies that can't be placed in any county.
- Race and ethnicity are reported separately from the age/sex counts, and not for every arrest — race is reported for ≈95% of arrests, ethnicity for ≈81%. Shares here use those reported subtotals as denominators.
- No per-capita rates. Because reporting coverage varies by area, population-adjusted rates would mislead; we show counts only. Arrests measure enforcement activity, not crime rates.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, 2024 Arrest (ASR) master file. pumsdata is independent and not affiliated with the FBI. How our data works.
Liquor law violations arrests — FAQ
How many liquor law violations arrests were there in the U.S. in 2024?+
87,605 arrests for liquor law violations were reported to the FBI in 2024 — 1.3% of all reported arrests. The true number is somewhat higher because not every agency reports.
Which state had the most liquor law violations arrests?+
Alabama reported the most (6,356), followed by Wisconsin (5,848) and Texas (4,934). Reporting coverage varies by state.
Who gets arrested for liquor law violations?+
In 2024, 30% of liquor law violations arrests were of women and 15.3% were of juveniles under 18 (of 87,605 total).