Credit: Yasin Arıbuğa / Unsplash.com
Typically, being in someone’s “Top 10” is an honor, but certainly not in this case. Delaware County is among the 10 counties in the state with the highest percentages of underage drinking offenses.
According to a news report citing data from the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, Delaware County had 994 underage drinking offenses between 2020 to 2024, or 3.27% of the statewide total of 30,393.
But two other counties in the Philadelphia suburbs surpassed Delco: Montgomery County tallied 1,266 offenses, or 4.17% of the statewide total, and Chester County had 2,557, or 8.41% of the total. Philadelphia hewed closely to Montgomery County’s figures, with 1,277 underage drinking offenses (4.2%).
The county in Pennsylvania with the highest number of underage drinking offenses was Centre County — home of Penn State University — clocking in at 3,286 offenses and 10.81% of the state total.
The state assessed more than $2 million in fines for underage drinking convictions from 2020 to 2024.
