El Paso Ranks Almost Last For Sober Travel Among Big Cities In The U.S.

A study by The Balance using the Sober Gateway Index recently showed that El Paso ranks 94th among the 100 largest cities in the United States for sober travel. If you have lived here for even a year, you probably already know that El Paso is not exactly the best place to be sober. With what feels like a bar on most every block and drunk driving accidents happening every weekend if not daily -- it is clear to most residents of the city that there is a problem.

Now a study has essentially proven that it is damn near impossible to plan a trip to El Paso without including some kind of alcohol into the mix.

Getty Images

The study took from multiple factors including Alcoholics Anonymous directory data, U.S. Census Bureau Zip Code Business Patterns, CDC and Prevention Overture Maps and more. Using all of these data points and focusing on things like: the share of adults who binge drink; the number of bars, attractions, cafes, coffee shops and juice bars per resident; parks and nature areas per square mile; and the number of weekly in-person and hybrid recovery meetings per resident. The study scored El Paso 33.1 out of 100 putting us just above the worst Texas city at 95th, Laredo.

Okay so what does this all mean exactly? Well basically it means that the options for some kind of entertainment, recreation, or pass times here in the city are mostly alcohol based. The Balance uses the study to determine this under the metric of planning a trip to El Paso but its a good way to show that even residents who live here could have a hard time doing anything non-alcohol related.

For a city that doesn't have a great track record when it comes to alcoholism, maybe this study can be a better understanding on how to start making a deeper change for the residents of El Paso struggling to stay sober.