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Alcohol-Outlet-Density-Mapping Tool
Alcohol outlet density refers to the number of alcohol outlets in a certain area. Alcohol outlets are places where alcohol can be legally sold to be consumed. Alcohol outlets can be categorized as allowing alcohol to be consumed on-premises, such as bars or restaurants, or off-premises, such as liquor stores.
Based on liquor licensing data, in 2019 there were 7,714 on-premises outlets and 2,503 off-premises outlets in Minnesota.
Higher alcohol outlet density suggests greater accessibility of alcohol, and is associated with increased harms including violence, crime, and injury.
More About Alcohol-Outlet Density.
There are several ways to measure alcohol outlet density that can be assessed together to gain the best understanding of the alcohol environment.
This count-based indicator provides a rate of alcohol outlets by population and can show the density of alcohol outlets experienced by a population. However, this indicator is directly affected by changes in population, so if the population of a community increases over time while the number of outlets remains the same, this density measure would decrease even though the exposure to alcohol outlets is the same.
In 2019, Minnesota had an average of 19 retail alcohol outlets per 10,000 residents.
The count is meaningful for densely populated areas in the state, however, areas where there are high amounts of alcohol outlet density without a large population living there (for example – the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport and Duluth’s Canal St.), the number can get skewed higher, so it is important to consider the environmental context of the area.
This count-based indicator provides a rate of alcohol outlets by the size of a geographic area. In contrast to the population-based indicator, this measure is not affected by population and can be useful to look at outlet density change over time in an area. However, it may not reflect the outlet density as experienced by the people living in the area.
There are limitations to both measures. Neither alcohol outlets per population nor per square mile consider that alcohol outlets are generally clustered in certain areas rather than being spaced evenly out through a population or geographic area. In addition, these two measures do not account for alcohol outlets that may be just over the border in another county, for example. Finally, these measures do not account for differences in where the population is clustered within the geographic area. These issues mean that these two indicators do not do a good job of measuring the “convenience costs” associated with obtaining alcohol (e.g., drive time), nor do they identify clusters of alcohol outlets.
This distance-based indicator provides distance from an outlet to its nearest outlet for all outlets in the state. The indicator measures both types of outlets (on-premises and off-premises) in the calculation. For example, an off-premises location will be calculated to the nearest on site and averaged within each census tract. The median of an outlet to the nearest outlet is 0.42 miles, the mean is 0.06 miles across the whole state. This indicator can help identify clusters of outlets and is not affected by geographic boundaries (e.g., county). However, it does not take into account contextual factors, such as the type of community where the outlets are or the size of the population that is directly at risk of exposure to the outlets.
This distance-based indicator provides the average distance for an individual living in each census tract to their nearest alcohol outlet. This indicator is measured by the average population within each block group and average distance then divided by the total population within a census tract. (Panel B) The median distance of a person to an alcohol outlet is 0.6 miles, the mean is 1.19 miles.
Comparing measures of alcohol outlet density to identify areas of higher risk
Geographic areas that have higher outlet density in more than one measure may be of greater concern. Additionally, areas with higher outlet density near sensitive locations (such as schools, parks, etc.) may pose greater risk to youth.
How can you use alcohol outlet density data?
- Compare your jurisdictions to similar counties and get detailed data on the census tract level.
- Determine whether to grant or restrict licenses in the area.
- Inform policy advocacy on current liquor licenses in your community.
- Compare alcohol outlet density measures in a county to alcohol-related deaths and hospitalizations.
- Investigate relationship between alcohol outlet density measures in a county and youth alcohol use and other indicators from the Minnesota Student Survey at Substance Use in Minnesota.