The U.S. beer industry generated $470.96 billion in economic output in 2024, holding 1.58% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), according to the biennial Beer Serves America study commissioned by the Beer Institute (BI) and the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA).
Beer’s economic impact increased by around $61.76 billion compared to the last survey, which covered 2022, when goods and services reached $409.2 billion, with a similar GDP, according to the survey conducted by John Dunham & Associates (JDA), using data from Data Axle, industry sources and government publications.
The beer industry alone directly generated $179.96 billion in economic output, while suppliers contributed $146.33 billion and induced output amounted to $144.66 billion.
The total economic output of beer outstripped every alcohol category, BI chief economist Andrew Heritage shared during a call with members of the trade press.
The spirits industry generated $250 billion in economic activity and supported more than 1.7 million jobs in the U.S. last year, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. In 2022 (the most recent year in which data is available), wine generated $276 billion in annual output and supported 1.84 million jobs. Beer dwarfed both categories’ economic output and employment.
“Americans not only love beer, but beer is an economic powerhouse,” Heritage said during the briefing.
Amid industry volume declines, the growth in economic output was driven by two years of inflation, price increases, premiumization, innovation and increased wages and employee benefits such as health insurance, NBWA chief economist and VP of analytics Lester Jones told Brewbound.
“The good news is that beer has kept pace and that demand for beer has been able to support the upward pressure on retail wages,” Heritage added.
In addition, for every $1 invested in the beer industry, $2.31 was generated within the U.S. economy, Heritage said, referring to the industry’s “multiplier effect.”
“Beer is connected to local economies in a way that really not very many industries are,” Heritage continued. “You’d be hard pressed to think of an industry that has a manufacturing plant the way that there’s a brewery in every single congressional district.”
Employment & Wages: The beer industry supported 2.42 million jobs overall nationwide, with $142.5 billion in total wages across the U.S. economy, per the report.
The beer industry alone was responsible for $54.36 billion in salaries, while $43.42 came from supplier companies. The report noted that retail and brewing job wages outpaced the national average.
Key employment figures included:
- 134,543 distributor jobs (+2.5% over the last decade);
- Around 950,000 retail jobs associated with selling beer;
- More than 43,000 U.S. farming and agricultural jobs;
- Nearly 77,000 U.S. manufacturing jobs for the production of beer.
Jones called the beer industry “a steady, reliable source of jobs and economic activity for communities throughout the country.”
The number of direct industry jobs (91,498) declined slightly compared to 2022 (92,160).
Microbreweries accounted for 36,102 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs (40.9% of the total FTE jobs), followed by major brewers/importers (25,667 jobs, 28.9%), brewpubs (18,273 jobs, 20.7%) and regional breweries (8,367 jobs, 9.5%).
JDA estimated there are 9,425 beer facilities operating in the U.S. in 2024. The largest share of those breweries were microbreweries (66.2%), followed by brewpubs (26.9%), regional breweries (3.6%) and major breweries (producing more than 2 million barrels) and importers (3.3%).
Around 6,134 distributors of alcoholic beverages operated last year, with 2,770 (45.2%) of them supplying malt beverages, a decline of more than 420 since the 2022 survey. That number excludes wholesale operations directly owned and operated by breweries.
Wholesaler jobs have increased 5.5% since the 2020 COVID-19 shutdowns, but declined 1% compared to 2022, per U.S. Department of Labor data cited by the report.
Retail outlets selling malt beverages in the U.S. employed 949,680 people, per the report. That marked a decline of more than 30,000 jobs compared to 2022 (979,805 employees). Nevertheless, the report called retail employment “steady since 2022” and 1.8% above 2018 levels.
Supplier companies that manufacture bottles and cans, cardboard case boxes, brewing equipment and marketing displays generated $146.3 million in economic activity, while employing around 565,580 jobs, per the report.
Heritage also shared the top 10 states supported by beer industry employment as a share of total state employment featured several smaller states. They include, in order:
- Vermont (9,794 jobs, 1 in 32 jobs supported by the beer industry);
- Maine (17,527 jobs, 1 in 38 jobs supported by the beer industry);
- Montana (13,814 jobs, 1 in 38 jobs supported by the beer industry);
- Oregon (46,710 jobs, 1 in 43 jobs supported by the beer industry);
- Nevada (36,607 jobs, 1 in 43 jobs supported by the beer industry);
- Wisconsin (70,407 jobs, 1 in 43 jobs supported by the beer industry);
- New Hampshire (15,003 jobs, 1 in 47 jobs supported by the beer industry);
- Colorado (61,263 jobs, 1 in 48 jobs supported by the beer industry);
- Idaho (17,139 jobs, 1 in 51 jobs supported by the beer industry);
- Hawaii (12,421 jobs, 1 in 52 jobs supported by the beer industry).
Federal and State Taxes: The production and sale of beer and other malt beverages contributed $58 billion in state and federal tax revenue in 2024, per the report. The amount of total taxes generated has declined from the survey in 2022, when the beer industry generated $63.8 billion in taxes.
Jones attributed that decline to shrinking beer volume and consumer shifts from beer to spirits and other alcoholic beverages. Meanwhile, state taxes continued to rise.
In 2024, the beer industry paid $3.2 billion in federal excise taxes and $1.67 billion in state and local excise taxes. The industry paid $1.14 billion in state sales tax.
The amount of money generated from taxes is equal to 41.3% of the retail price paid by consumers for these malt beverages, according to the report. That amounted to a 7.3 percentage point increase compared to the study two years ago, Heritage said.
“Most of that increased burden has come from the state and local level,” he said.
“For our retail partners that are in the hospitality business – the bars, the taverns, the hotels, concessionaires, that big, long list of places that people go to buy beer – will all be impacted by these taxes as well,” Jones added.
Heritage advocated for an “equal playing field” between the beer industry and other alcohol categories, noting several state lawmakers have championed “pro-liquor tax carveouts to treat canned cocktails at lower excise tax rates and treat it as if it were beer.”
Per Capita Consumption Trends: The study also looked at per capita consumption of beer. The top 10 most populated states – including California, Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina and Michigan – account for more than 50% of the industry’s economic impact, Jones said. However, he cautioned against discounting the contributions of smaller population states with outsized beer consumption, such as Vermont and Montana
Jones offered California as an example of a large economic contributor but a state that is among the lowest per capita consumption of beer.
“Every state is going to have a little bit of a different story to it,” Jones said.