Alcohol & Tobacco

Consumers spend $1.80 trillion on alcoholic beverages and tobacco in 2026, which is 2.5% of all their spending. The market grows 4.39% a year in current dollars and reaches $2.76 trillion by 2036. Between those two years it adds $0.97 trillion.

The fastest-growing subcategory is spirits at 4.63% a year and the slowest is wine at 4.21%. The category as a whole grows 4.39% a year. The two largest subcategories are tobacco at $836bn and beer at $404bn. Both grow more slowly than spirits.

New York City spends the most at $21bn a year, followed by Tokyo at $18bn and Los Angeles at $18bn. We estimate the category for all 9,400+ cities in every year to 2040. The top ten of the 256 cities on this page's map hold 26% of the spending it shows.

Among the largest city markets, Jakarta grows fastest at 7.2% a year and Saint Petersburg slowest at 1.8%. The cities adding the most spending by 2036 make a different list, led by Jakarta at $10bn, Los Angeles at $8.3bn and New York City at $7.6bn.

Yes, every market and city splits the category into five age bands and five spending tiers. Sizing the cohort you target means filtering those same figures, with nothing extra to commission. Kitakyushu has the oldest profile, with 29% of its spending from the over-65s. San Francisco is the most affluent, with 96% from its richest spending tier.

We forecast every country, subcategory and cohort each year to 2050, and every city to 2040. Because one model produces all of them, a market and a city read on the same scale. The method is published and peer reviewed. Our page on how we measure spending sets it out. The average person spends $220 a year on alcoholic beverages and tobacco today.