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Boston Tops List Of Drunkest U.S. Cities Of 2011

BOSTON (CBS) - Red Sox pitchers and thousands of college students and workers in the city of Boston all have at least one thing in common: they drink alcohol.

They drink so much that Boston has topped The Daily Beast's list of America's Drunkest Cities of 2011.

To compile the list, The Daily Beast analyzed data from Experian Simmons to determine the amount of alcohol consumed in 200 American cities, and then took into account the amount of heavy and/or binge drinkers in the city using information from the Centers for Disease Control.

WBZ-TV Political Editor Jon Keller offers his take on this dubious distinction.

According to the report, Boston has 4,750,296 residents over the age of 21. Of that number, 20.1% are considered binge drinkers while another 7.4% are considered heavy drinkers. The average Boston resident consumes 15.5 drinks per month.

Second on the list was Springfield, Massachusetts, with Burlington, Vermont coming in at No. 11. Rounding out New England's presence on the list was Providence, Rhode Island, which came in at 21.

New York City did not crack the top 25.

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