What changes in KC when the drinking slows
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Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Stock: Getty Images
Kansas City has lost several breweries, bars and pubs in recent years, leaving fewer places for socialization.
Why it matters: Americans are drinking less for good reasons, but bars and taprooms do more than just pour booze — they provide places to gather without a plan.
- That job is now going unassigned.
By the numbers: Gallup found 54% of U.S. adults drink, down from 62% in 2023 and the lowest in a nearly 90-year trend.
- Folks have an average 2.8 drinks a week, the lowest since 1996, and 40% of drinkers said it had been more than a week since their last one.
💭 My thought bubble: My personal contribution to this trend is drinking one fewer glass of wine a week.
Yes, but: It's not just about alcohol. Gathering places of every kind have been thinning out nationally, drinking or not.
- A University of Colorado Boulder study tracked coffee shops, libraries, rec centers and nine other kinds of hangouts from 2010 to 2021 and found declines in nearly every category.
- Researcher Jessica Finlay blames the economics, not the customers, including rising costs and slimmer margins.
Between the lines: The Kansas City Public Library's 2026 strategic plan lists "increased demand for safe community spaces" among the pressures shaping its next five years.
What they're saying: "There's people that are friends now," Grains and Taps owner Brad Boehm told the Kansas City Star about the decision to close the brewery and taproom last month, adding there are families and marriages that have come out of people meeting there.
What we're watching: New spaces are opening on different terms, like the sober jazz bar Café 333.
- Silent book clubs and run clubs are adding more times and places for low-key, in-person gathering.