All beer prices are not created equally. The same case of beer can cost almost $10 more in Pennsylvania than it does in Michigan. We recently conducted a study of beer prices in each state to find out which states are the most expensive to buy beer, and which states are a little more forgiving to their beer drinkers.
Now, there are myriad choices when it comes to beer and hundreds of brands to choose from, so it wasn’t easy coming up with a research methodology that accounted for all the choices. Microbrews can be a lot more expensive outside of the state where it’s made. International imports can carry a high-price tag because of import taxes. So how do you measure beer cost that’s fair to state’s across the board?
We first decided to choose the two most popular brands in the U.S. — Bud Light and Miller Lite — since they are domestic and are the easiest to go across the country. We then picked the most popular big-box store (Walmart) and the most alcohol-specific store (Total Wine). Our research showed that cases of 12 oz cans were the most popular, so we used that as our base product for pricing. We then picked 10 locations within each state, accounting for both urban and rural areas, collected the prices for cases in those areas, and averaged out the price per case.
It was an interesting process, and showed us that prices can vary wildly between states. One of the main factors that we found was state taxes on alcohol vary between states, accounting for some of the price differences.
The cheapest state to buy beer ended up being Michigan at $14.62 for a case. California, which is known for its high cost of living, was surprisingly the second cheapest state, at only $14.87. Illinois was third at only $15.
The most expensive states are all states that are known for their love of beer. Pennsylvania, which has a long history of beer-making and includes some of the best craft beers, came in at $21.98 a case. Tennessee came in second at $21.97 a case, and Texas was third at $21.66 a case.
So, how did your state do? Are you paying more for beer than the rest of the country?