Before I click on an article that’s a list or ranking, I pause for a moment and try to guess its contents. (Cheap thrills, guys. Sometimes I even wash non-dishwasher-safe mugs in the dishwasher. Living on the edge!) I didn’t correctly guess my state’s most-hated food, nor did I correctly guess which city’s residents spend the most, per capita, on booze. That distinction went to [drum roll]… San Diego?

　　The list’s data comes from the 2017 Consumer Expenditure Survey, conducted by the Bureau Of Labor Statistics. The website 24/7 Wall Street compiled that data into a ranking of booze-spending by city, and I for one am struggling to figure out why certain cities ranked the way they did. Here are the top 5, for example:

　　San Diego: $1,112 per person

　　Seattle: $986

　　San Francisco: $875

　　Boston: $823

　　Anchorage: $788

　　Okay, so San Diego has an equally great cocktail and beer culture (shout out to Polite Provisions and Modern Times!); ditto Seattle. San Fran also has a great craft cocktail scene, and is just expensive in general, so that makes sense. But then, where’s L.A.? Or New York City? They don’t make the list until number 15 (L.A.) and number 18 (NYC). Chicago? Its residents come in at number 17.

　　How to explain Boston and Anchorage? Consumer goods tend to be more expensive across the board in Alaska due to shipping costs, so couple that with long, tough winters, and that could explain its number-five rank. And Boston, well, maybe Beantown just likes drinking?