A dry county is a county in the United States whose government forbids the sale of alcoholic beverages. Some prohibit off-premises sale, some prohibit on-premises sale, and some prohibit both. Hundreds of dry counties exist across the United States, although most commonly in the South and Midwest. A number of smaller jurisdictions also exist, such as cities and towns, which prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages. These are known as dry towns or dry cities.

Although the 21st Amendment repealed the prohibition of alcohol on the federal level, that Amendment also specifically prohibits the selling or production of alcohol in violation of local laws. Some local governments which had passed local laws prohibiting alcohol during national prohibition never re-legalized the sale of alcohol, maintaining a "dry" market.^[1]

Many dry communities do not generally prohibit the mere consumption of alcohol. Thus, they lose the profits and taxes from the sale of alcohol to their residents to "wet" - or non-prohibition - areas. The rationale for maintaining prohibition on the local level often is religious in nature, as many Protestant Christian denominations discourage the consumption of alcohol by their followers (see Christianity and alcohol) (see also sumptuary law). Similar laws designed to restrict the sale and consumption of alcohol also are common in the mostly LDS (Mormon) state of Utah, although Utah prohibits local jurisdictions from exercising control over liquor laws. An additional, more pragmatic intent of these laws often is to reduce alcohol consumption in that particular county (and the potential health, safety, and public order issues that can accompany it) by limiting the ease of acquiring it.

A 2004 survey by the National Alcoholic Beverage Control Association found that over 500 municipalities in the United States are dry, including 83 in Alaska. Almost one-half of Mississippi's counties are dry. Its alcohol laws are similarly complex. It is also illegal to transport unopened containers of alcohol across any dry county in the state.^[1] In Florida, five out of 67 counties are dry (they are Lafayette, Liberty, Madison, Suwannee, and Washington) all of which are located in the northern part of the state, an area that has cultural ties to the Deep South.

Alabama has 26 dry counties^[2]. Within those 26 counties, 16 city governments have legalized alcohol sales inside their city limits.

• In order for an Alabama city or county to hold a wet-dry vote, 25% of the voters in the preceding general election must sign a petition requesting a vote^[3] Petitions can be made to go from dry to wet or wet to dry.

• In dry counties, it is illegal to transport more than one case of beer and three quarts of liquor^[4]

Of the 120 counties in Kentucky, 54 are completely dry and 30 are wet.^[5] The remaining 36 counties fall somewhere in between.

• Under Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS) 242.123, an individual precinct within a dry county that contains a USGA-regulation golf course may vote to allow the sale of alcoholic beverages by the drink on that specific course. As of the last officially published update on Kentucky wet and dry counties by the Kentucky Office of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) in August 2005, thirteen courses in ten different counties were approved for such sales.
• KRS 243.155 allows individual precincts within dry counties to vote to allow a "small farm winery" to operate within the precinct. Once approved, a winery not only can produce and sell wine on its premises but also can apply for a license to sell wine and beer by the drink in a restaurant located on its premises. As of August, 2005, eleven wineries were operating in nine dry counties under this statute; two other wineries, both in the same county, similarly were approved but since have closed. KRS 243.154 allows a wholesale distributor of wine produced in small farm wineries to operate in dry territory.
• KRS 242.185(6) allows either a dry county or a city located in a dry county to vote to allow restaurants that seat at least 100 patrons and derive at least 70% of their total sales from food to serve alcohol by the drink. The Kentucky ABC listed 16 cities in 2005 that had voted to approve such sales, plus Oldham County and Shelby County outside of the wet city of Shelbyville.^[5] In April, 2007, the city of Whitesburg voted to authorize such sales,^[6] and in May, 2007, Boyd County voted to authorize such sales outside of the wet city of Ashland.^[7]
• In addition to Shelbyville and Ashland, fourteen other cities are wet cities located in dry counties. An otherwise dry county for general retail sales that contains a wet city is also known as a moist county.

A study of about 39,000 alcohol-related traffic accidents in Kentucky found that residents of dry counties are more likely to be involved in such crashes, possibly because they have to drive farther from their homes to consume alcohol, thus increasing impaired driving exposure. The study concludes that county-level prohibition is not necessarily effective in improving highway safety.

Of Texas's 254 counties, 44 are completely dry and 169 are partially dry or "moist". The patchwork of laws can be confusing, even to residents. In some counties, only 4% beer is legal. In others, beverages that are 14% or less alcohol are legal. In some "dry" areas, a customer can get a mixed drink by paying to join a "private club," and in some "wet" areas a customer needs a club membership to purchase liquor by-the-drink, reports the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

The newspaper demonstrates how variable the alcohol laws can be, even within small geographic areas. "Move from Fort Worth to Arlington and you’ll be surprised that you can buy beer but not wine at the grocery store. Move to Grand Prairie and you can’t even find beer there, but you can buy alcoholic drinks at restaurants in both towns. Then move to Burleson, which has alcohol sales in the Tarrant County portion of the city but not in the Johnson County side of town."^[8]

• Ocean City, New Jersey, a major beach-side resort city, is dry, and uses this fact to promote itself to tourists as family-friendly.
• In December, 2005, Bridgewater, Connecticut, became the last remaining "dry town" in that state.
• The village of Ephraim, Wisconsin, is the only dry municipality in Wisconsin; it has been dry since its founding in the mid-nineteenth century, and its anti-liquor laws have been upheld decisively in two referenda (in 1934 and 1992).
• The city of Westerville, Ohio, was dry for more than a century. Once the home of the Anti-Saloon League and called the "dry capital of the world", the first legal drink in recent times was served in 2006.
• The village of South Holland, Illinois, has been a dry municipality since it was founded by Dutch Reformed immigrants in 1894.
• The city of Monmouth, Oregon was the last dry municipality on the Pacific coast outside of Alaska until it repealed its prohibition on January 10, 2003.
• In Arkansas, some cities, like Jacksonville, are dry despite being located in a "wet" county. In nearby North Little Rock, the distinction of areas is even more specific, with a single township inside the city designated as a dry area.
• Benton County, Arkansas, in the northwest corner of the state, is considered one of the "wettest" dry counties with 186 private establishments.
• The town of Panaca, Nevada, was southern Nevada's first permanent settlement, founded as a Mormon colony in 1864. It originally was part of Washington County, Utah, but the Congressional redrawing of boundaries in 1866 shifted Panaca into Nevada. It remains Nevada's only dry municipality.
• The consolidated city-county government of Lynchburg and Moore County, Tennessee, is a dry county, notwithstanding that it is home to the Jack Daniel's distillery. (A special state law allows the distillery to sell small, commemorative bottles of Jack Daniel's whiskey to tourists.)
• Wayne County, Michigan, home to Detroit, is notable in that one cannot buy alcoholic beverages in any gas station there, possibly as a motive to discourage drunk driving. The 7-Eleven gas stations there are the only 7-Elevens in Michigan that do not sell alcohol.
• In Pennsylvania, one cannot buy beer or wine in a grocery store or a convenience store. Wine is sold only in state liquor stores, while beer is sold only by state beer distributors. Non-alcoholic beer can be bought in grocery stores and convenience stores, but even then one has to be 21 to buy it. Yardley is a dry township, although patrons of restaurants may bring bottles of wine for consumption.
• Murray County, in northwest Georgia, is a dry county, allthough the city of Eton allows the sale of liquor at a local level.

It once had been considered that, because of the 21st Amendment, which repealed national prohibition and made alcohol prohibition a state matter rather than a federal one, states had the power to regulate interstate commerce with respect to alcohol traveling to, from, or through their jurisdiction. While the 21st Amendment does give states the power to ban alcohol, that power is not absolute. The Supreme Court of the United States held in Granholm v. Heald 544 U.S. 460 (2005) that states do not have the power to regulate interstate shipments of alcoholic beverages. Therefore, it may be likely that city, county, or state legislation banning possession of alcoholic beverages by passengers of vehicles operating in interstate commerce (such as trains and interstate bus lines) would be unconstitutional, were passengers on such vehicles simply passing through the area.

33 states have laws which allow localities to prohibit the sale (and in some cases, consumption and possession) of liquor.

• Alabama specifically allows cities and counties to elect to go dry by public referendum.^[9]
• Alaska specifically allows local jurisdictions to elect to go dry by public referendum.^[10]
• Arkansas specifically allows local jurisdictions to elect to go dry by public referndum.^[11]
• California specifically allows local jurisdictions to enact liquor laws which are more strict than state law.^[12]
• Colorado specifically allows cities and counties to exercise a local option by public referendum whether to go dry.^[13]
• Connecticut specifically allows towns to exercise a local option by public referendum whether to go dry.^[14]
• Delaware's state constitution allows specifically-defined local districts to elect to go dry by public referendum.^[15]
• Florida specifically allows counties to elect to go dry by public referendum.^[16]
• Georgia specifically allows any local jurisdiction to go dry, without limitation on how that decision is made.^[17]
• Idaho allows local jurisdictions to prohibit sale of liquor by the drink by public referendum,^[18], but because all retail package sales are controlled by the state, no local jurisdiction may prohibit package liquor sales for consumption off-premises.
• Kansas is dry by default; counties have to choose to allow liquor sales in order for liquor to be sold at all in the county.^[19] (see Alcohol laws of Kansas)
• Kentucky specifically allows local jurisdictions to elect to go dry by public referendum.^[20]
• Louisiana specifically allows local jurisdictions to go dry, without limitation on how that decision is made.^[21]
• Maine specifically allows local jurisdictions to elect to go dry by public referendum.^[22]
• Massachusetts requires that a series of questions of whether to go dry be placed on each county's local ballot every two years, unless the county has voted to allow or prohibit liquor sales in three such consecutive elections.^[23]
• Michigan allows any city, village, or township in which there are no retail liquor licenses to prohibit the retail sale of alcoholic liquor within its borders by passage of an ordinance.^[24]
• Minnesota allows any local jurisdiction to enact laws which are more strict than state liquor law, including completely prohibiting the sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic beverages.^[25]
• Mississippi is dry by default; local jurisdictions have to choose to allow liquor sales in order for liquor to be sold at all in the county.^[26]
• New Hampshire specifically allows local jurisdictions to elect to go dry by public referendum.^[27]
• New Jersey specifically allows local jurisdictions to exercise full control over alcoholic beverages, including completely prohibiting all alcohol.^[28]
• New Mexico specifically allows local jurisdictions to elect to go dry by public referendum.^[29]
• New York specifically allows cities and counties to exercise a local option by public referendum whether to go dry.^[30]
• North Carolina allows certain classes of local jurisdictions to exercise a local option by public referendum whether to go dry.^[31] (see Alcohol laws of North Carolina)
• Ohio state law allows local jurisdictions to exercise a local option by public referendum whether to prohibit the sale of liquor.^[32]
• Rhode Island state law allows local jurisdictions to exercise a local option by public referendum whether to prohibit the sale of liquor.^[33]
• South Dakota allows certain classes of local jurisdictions to exercise a local option by public referendum whether to prohibit the on-premises sale of liquor.^[34]
• Tennessee is dry by default; local jurisdictions must choose whether to allow liquor sales in order for liquor to be sold.^[35]
• Texas allows local jurisdictions to exercise a local option to decide whether it is "wet" or "dry," and does not limit how that decision shall be made.^[36]
• Vermont allows municipalities to exercise a local option by public referendum whether to prohibit the sale of liquor.^[37]
• Virginia allows local jurisdictions to exercise a local option by public referendum whether to prohibit the sale of liquor.^[38]
• Washington allows local jurisdictions to exercise a local option by public referendum whether to prohibit the sale of liquor.^[39]
• West Virginia allows local jurisdictions to exercise a local option by public referendum whether to prohibit the sale of liquor.^[40]
• Wisconsin allows local jurisdictions to exercise a local option by public referendum whether to prohibit the sale of liquor.^[41]

Seventeen states have laws which preclude the existence of any dry counties:

• Arizona prohibits local jurisdictions from enacting any alcohol laws stricter than state law.^[42] As a result, no dry communities can exist in Arizona.
• Hawaii does not allow for any local control of liquor beyond licensing of manufacture and sale.^[43]
• Illinois only allows for local control as to the "number, kind and classification of licenses, for sale at retail of alcoholic liquor," but such local control cannot supersede state law, thereby preventing any local jurisdiction from going dry.^[44]
• Indiana's comprehensive state alcohol laws only allows local liquor boards to issue liquor licenses for sale and manufacture; all other regulation of alcohol is an operation of state law.^[45]
• Iowa state law specifically requires each county's liquor board to allow liquor licenses and follow the provisions of state liquor law.^[46] As a result, there can be no dry cities or counties in Nevada,
• Maryland prohibits local jursidictions from imposing restrictions on licensing which are more strict than state law.^[47]
• Missouri state law specifically prohibits any city or county from banning the retail sale of liquor, but does allow incorporated cities to ban the sale of liquor by the drink by public referendum.^[48] No city in Missouri ever has held such a referendum. (see Alcohol laws of Missouri)
• Montana state law vests control of alcoholic beverages solely in the power of the state.^[49]
• Nebraska only grants local governing bodies authority to approve applications and deny licenses pursuant to state law.^[50]
• Nevada state law specifically requires each county's board of county commissioners to allow liquor licenses and follow the provisions of state liquor law.^[51] As a result, there can be no dry cities or counties in Nevada, except that a few rural communities in northeast Nevada are grandfathered into the ability to still be partially or totally dry.
• North Dakota state law provides that each local jurisdiction's liquor board must allow liquor licenses, and sets the range of allowable fees.</ref>N.D. Century Code Chapter 5-02</ref>
• Oklahoma state law requires the liquor ordinances of municipalities and counties to conform to the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Act, and prohibits local jurisdictions from enacting penalties more severe than those of the state law.^[52] As a result, there can be no dry cities or counties in Oklahoma. (see Alcohol laws of Oklahoma)
• Oregon's Liquor Control Act, which is "designed to operate uniformly throughout the state," specifically replaces and supersedes "any and all municipal charter enactments or local ordinances inconsistent with it," thereby precluding dry communities in Oregon.^[53]
• Pennsylvania state law vests control of alcoholic beverages solely in the power of the state.^[54]
• South Carolina state law vests control of alcoholic beverages exclusively in the power of the state.^[55]
• Utah state law provides that local jurisdictions only may enact alcohol control legislation which does not conflict with state law, thereby precluding the ability of communities to go dry.^[56]
• Wyoming state law provides that each local jurisdiction's liquor board must allow liquor licenses.^[57]

Maps

• Alabama Wet & Dry Counties and Cities
• Map of Wet and Dry Counties in Kansas
• The Wet/Dry Issue in Texas
• Dry towns in Massachusetts
• [1], on the right-hand side list