The unlikely state that is home to ‘The Drunkest County in America’… Can you guess where it is?

Located in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, this surprising county in Montana is sometimes called ‘The Drunkest County in America’.

Gallatin County, Montana, has a whopping 26.8 percent of residents who drink too much, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The agency defines excessive drinking as including excessive drinking, heavy drinking, underage drinking and drinking during pregnancy.

According to CDC data collected by inxistates.com26.8 percent of Gallatin County residents are heavy drinkers, compared to Outagamie County in Wisconsin, where 26.13 percent of people are excessive drinkers.

The Montana county of 127,880 residents surpassed popular college towns and party spots for the title of “Drunkest County in America.”

Located in a vast valley in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, Gallatin County is home to an abundance of outdoor activities, including skiing, blue-ribbon trout streams, and Yellowstone National Park.

Locals credit the province’s booming tourism for making the country a leader in excessive alcohol consumption.

“The ski area aspect definitely makes it a college town,” Andy Fortier, team leader at local bar Hungry Moose, told me. Cowboy stands daily.

The Montana county of 127,880 residents surpassed popular college towns and party spots for the title of “Drunkest County in America.” Pictured: People drinking in Scissorbills Saloon

‘Everyone just uses that as a reason to get drunk every day. Everyone comes here to get away for a while.”

Gallatin County resident Thomas McGuane Jr., who distills his own liquor, told the local news station that the cold winters could contribute to residents drinking.

“It’s always like a holiday party here and then we also have the rough weather that makes wandering around downtown and blowing off some steam the only attractive activity,” McGuane says.

“It celebrates the lifestyle we have here. Everyone is in a party mood all the time.”

About 178,000 people die each year in the United States from excessive alcohol consumption, the CDC estimates.

For the first time in history, binge drinking rates among women are overtaking those among men – and alcohol-related deaths are rising faster among women than among men.

While many women can take pride in their ability to hold their liquor, more of them than ever are drinking themselves sick.

According to Yale psychiatry professor Dr. Sherry McKee, rates of alcohol use disorders tend to be much higher in men, but in recent decades they have converged “and those rates are very close to one-to-one.”

Located in a vast valley in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, Gallatin County is home to a plethora of outdoor activities

Locals credit the province’s booming tourism for why the country leads the country in excessive alcohol consumption

The increasing number of women binge drinking is having devastating consequences and the number of deaths among women due to alcohol is rising almost 30 percent faster than that of men.

Dr. McKee told DailyMail.com: ‘So women are more vulnerable to the neurotoxic effects of alcohol [that means] more neurodegeneration.

‘We think there is a general inflammatory process that is more likely to occur in women than men as a result of drinking, and this is part of the reason why women are more susceptible or have the health risks of drinking exacerbated.’

Neurotoxic effects can cause a range of symptoms, from reduction in brain volume, shrinking of the brain, death of brain cells, breaking of nerve fibers and inflammatory stress.

Alcohol activates the immune system in the brain and a specific type of receptor designed to detect harmful invaders such as bacteria and viruses and alert the body.

But chronic drinking can make this receptor more sensitive than normal and keep it on alert, leading to an exaggerated immune response that can ultimately harm the body and increase inflammation.