Why Younger Americans Are Drinking Less: The Forces Behind the Sober Curious Movement

Nearly half of Americans planned to drink less alcohol in 2025, a significant jump from previous years, driven by a convergence of health-and-wellness mindsets, generational shifts, cannabis as an alternative, and demand for personalization.

Marco Alves

May 18, 2026 · Updated October 31, 2026 · 5 min read

Nearly half of Americans — 49% — planned to drink less alcohol in 2025, representing a 44% increase from the 34% who said the same in 2023, according to a survey commissioned by NCSolutions. The shift is not a single phenomenon but a convergence of four distinct forces: a health-and-wellness mindset, a sharp generational divide, the rise of legal cannabis as an alternative, and a broader consumer demand for personalization. Understanding how these drivers interact — and who is leading the change — is the key to grasping why the sober curious movement looks less like a fad and more like a durable cultural shift.

The Rise of the Sober Curious Movement

The term "sober curious" describes consumers who are questioning the default role of alcohol in social life rather than necessarily abstaining entirely. The NCSolutions survey, conducted for its annual look at drinking intentions, found that Dry January participation grew 36% year over year, while purchases of nonalcoholic beer rose 22% between December 2023 and November 2024. Those figures extend a three-year upward trend in Americans planning to cut back.

Industry analysts observed the pattern well before it showed up in sales data. "I think even before Covid there was this trend that we observed, what we were calling the sober curious movement," explained Robertson Allen, senior consultant with The Hartman Group, a food and beverage research firm. The pandemic, he and his colleagues found, accelerated rather than created the movement, as consumers focused on mindfulness and "better-for-you" options began scrutinizing what they were drinking as closely as what they were eating.

Generational Shifts: Who Is Drinking Less?

The generational data is the trend's most striking feature. In the NCSolutions survey, 65% of Gen Z respondents planned to drink less in 2025, and 39% committed to a fully dry lifestyle. Gen Xers followed at 49%, while just 30% of baby boomers planned to cut back. Millennials, at 53%, sat closer to Gen Z than to their parents' generation.

"Over three years of data, the trend couldn't be more clear — younger consumers are strongly motivated to drink less alcohol than their parents and their grandparents," said Alan Miles, chief executive officer of NCSolutions. The Hartman Group's research adds a qualitative layer: Allen noted the movement has been particularly prevalent among millennials taking a proactive approach to their health, including many who noticed how much they were consuming during the pandemic's early months. The generational gap suggests this is a cohort-driven change in norms, not a temporary reaction that will age out.

Key Drivers of the Sober Curious Movement

The four forces below, synthesized from The Hartman Group's cultural analysis and NCSolutions' 2025 survey data, show how each driver independently pushes the same behavioral outcome — and why the trend is more than the sum of its parts.

The four main forces driving reduced alcohol consumption, with supporting evidence
Driver	What it means	Evidence
Health & wellness focus	Consumers prioritize well-being and mindfulness, treating alcohol decisions as health decisions	Hartman Group research; wellness is a priority for Gen Z
Generational shift	Younger cohorts lead the move away from alcohol	NCSolutions 2025: 65% of Gen Z and 53% of millennials plan to drink less, versus 30% of baby boomers
Cannabis as an alternative	Legalization creates substitute options for social relaxation	Hartman Group analysis; 38% of Gen Z interested in cannabis-infused drinks
Demand for personalization	Consumers expect tailored food and beverage experiences, weakening alcohol's default status	Identified as a cultural shift by The Hartman Group

Read together, the table makes the synthesis visible: no single driver explains the 49% figure on its own. Wellness supplies the motivation, generational attitudes supply the demographics, cannabis supplies an alternative, and personalization supplies the consumer expectation that makes choosing differently feel normal rather than abstemious.