Calculate Your Blood Alcohol Content (BAC)

Blood alcohol content, or BAC, is a term that refers to the percentage of alcohol found in a person’s blood stream, and it can be measured within 30 minutes to an hour after that individual starts drinking. Contrary to popular belief, there’s no shortcut to sobering up—time is the only reliable option. As such, water, coffee, and cold showers won’t reverse the effects of alcohol in your system.

DUI laws make it vital for anyone drinking outside of their home to be aware of their blood alcohol content before hopping in the car.

While everyone metabolizes alcohol differently, blood alcohol content calculators serve as a way to estimate how much you’ve had to drink. But, it’s important to note that while calculators can help you check in with yourself, they are not a completely reliable tool for determining whether it’s safe to drive or appropriate to work after drinking.

In this article, we’ll discuss what a BAC calculator is for, factors that influence BAC, and how BAC calculators may help you avoid DUIs—and the consequences that come with that offense.

What Is a Blood Alcohol Content Calculator?

A blood alcohol content calculator, or BAC calculator, offers a rough estimate of how much alcohol you have in your body based on how many drinks you’ve consumed, as well as your size, sex, and how long you’ve been drinking.

Disclaimer

It’s important to note that BAC calculators do not prove that you are legally safe to drive, nor is there any guarantee that the results are fully accurate. Several factors including age, sex, body type, how much food you’ve eaten, and whether you’ve taken any medication before consuming alcohol all come into play, here (more on that in a moment). BAC calculators are primarily used to help people keep track of how much alcohol they’ve consumed. Individuals are responsible for monitoring themselves for symptoms of intoxication and should not get behind the wheel if they are experiencing any impairment at all.

It’s also worth noting that a BAC calculator isn’t designed to replace the guidance offered by your medical care provider and, if you have a health condition, you should consult with a doctor to learn more about whether its safe to consume alcohol.

How Much Alcohol is in Your Blood?
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Body Weight In Pounds

Beer 12oz

- 5% ABV

Wine 5oz

- 12% ABV

shot 1.5oz

- 40% ABV

Time Since First Drink
Hours
Minutes

Your BAC is approximately:

? %

Depending on your blood alcohol content, you can experience different side effects. Some of those side effects can include (but not limited to):

In most states, anything over .08% BAC is against the law and is also dangerous for you and other drivers on the road. You can use our calculator to also increase the time in hours and see how long the estimate will take for you to get to a 0% BAC level.

Factors that Affect Your BAC

There are many factors that can influence your blood alcohol content

  • Body Weight

    A person’s size impacts BAC, as it determines the mass available for alcohol to diffuse in the body. Someone that weighs 120 pounds will likely have a higher BAC than someone who weighs 200 pounds, even if both people drink the same amount (though this can be affected by how much fat you have in your body because alcohol is absorbed differently by fat than it is by muscle).

  • Biological Gender

    Generally, women and men metabolize alcohol at different rates due to differences in body composition and, in some cases, size. Some studies have revealed that men have higher levels of alcohol dehydrogenase and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase, enzymes used to metabolize alcohol in the system.

  • How Fast Someone Drinks

    The faster a person drinks, the faster they will become intoxicated. The liver metabolizes alcohol at a rate of approximately one standard drink per hour and that is a number you can’t change. As such, if you consume more than one drink per hour, your liver can’t keep up, leading to more alcohol circulating through the blood stream until the liver can get to it. Of course, the more alcohol in your blood, the higher the BAC, and the more likely you are to show outward signs of intoxication.

  • Food in Your System

    Roughly 20% of alcohol is absorbed into the bloodstream via the walls of your stomach, whereas 80% is absorbed by way of the small intestine. If there’s food in the stomach, it can slow down the absorption rate. While the idea that food absorbs alcohol is a myth, the stomach has what’s known as a pyloric valve, which acts as a connection between the stomach and small intestine and closes when your body digests food. As such, drinking on a full stomach means the pyloric valve stays closed, keeping alcohol in the stomach longer before moving it into the small intestine. What’s more, eating fatty foods can further slow absorption, as they take longer to digest than high-carb foods.

  • Medications

    Taking other drugs or medications with alcohol can lead to adverse effects and impact your BAC level. Even things like Tylenol, allergy medications, and other common over-the-counter medications could cause liver damage when taken with alcohol. If you’re taking any medications, be sure to make yourself aware of any potential interactions with alcohol before drinking. If you’re unsure, it’s better to avoid alcohol while using that medication. – Additionally, some medications that need to be broken down by the liver take precedence over alcohol, meaning the alcohol stays in your system longer than usual.

  • Stress Levels, Mood, & Fatigue

    Your mental state can also have an effect on your blood alcohol content. For example, stress is known to divert blood from the stomach and small intestines to the muscles, which slows down alcohol absorption rates. Later, when you calm down and normal blood flow resumes, your BAC may increase all of a sudden.

  • A note about tolerance

    Though it might seem counterintuitive, tolerance does not impact your BAC. In long-term drinkers that develop a tolerance to alcohol, it’s not that the liver becomes more efficient at metabolizing alcohol. Instead, it just takes more alcohol for someone to display the signs of intoxication than someone with a lower tolerance. However, despite the fact that a high-tolerance person requires a greater volume of alcohol before they appear intoxicated, their BAC will increase at the same rate as someone with less tolerance.

Effects by BAC Level

Here’s a quick look at how the effects of alcohol change as your BAC level increases.

  • 0.01-0.029

    Slight relaxation and euphoria, no loss of coordination. Drinkers may begin to feel less inhibited.

  • 0.030-0.059

    Minor impairment, along with a sense of euphoria, relaxation, warmth, and general well-being. May be less cautious and show signs of poor judgement.

  • 0.060-0.099

    Reduced judgment and self-control, along with slight impairments to speech, vision, balance, hearing, and vision.

  • 0.100-0.199

    Significant impairment of motor skills and the ability to exercise good judgement. Hearing, vision, balance, and reaction time will also be impaired. At the higher end of this spectrum, the drinker may begin to feel nauseous and have a sense of dysphoria—and they may begin to appear sloppy.

  • 0.200-0.299

    At this stage, the drinker is likely confused and may need help walking. They may also experience nausea and vomiting or even blackout.

  • 0.300-0.399

    The drinker likely has alcohol poisoning at this stage and may lose consciousness.

  • 0.400+

    The drinker may fall into a coma and has an increased chance of death caused by respiratory arrest.

Typical Alcohol Content of Popular Drinks

When calculating your BAC, it’s important to consider that the definition of “one drink” varies by the type of alcohol you’re drinking and its alcohol content. Standard drink size—which for many, may be a call back to middle school health class—is typically broken down as follows:

  • Beer

    12 ounces of beer with a 5% alcohol content

  • Wine

    5 ounces of wine contains about 12% alcohol

  • Liquor

    1.5 ounces of liquor contains about 40% alcohol

While most standard red and white wines tend to hit the 12% mark, the alcohol content of one beer can vary considerably—with light beers clocking in at as low as 3% or 4%, while stronger craft beers can sometimes contain more alcohol than your typical wine.

BAC Limits by Law

Prior to 1998, the legal limit varied from state-to-state. That year, President Clinton called for a national standard for defining legal intoxication. Soon after, several bills were passed to reinforce the legal limit, including a Department of Transportation bills that would cut federal funding for states that failed to adopt the .08% standard.

Today, all US states have the legal BAC limit set at .08% for drivers operating a personal vehicle, and a .04% limit for commercial drivers that can result in a DUI conviction. Additionally, most states have a zero-tolerance law for drivers under the legal drinking age of 21, meaning any amount of alcohol can result in a DUI charge.

Additionally, most states have stricter laws in place for individuals driving with exceptionally high BAC levels. Most often, that higher limit is .15%, though some states go as high as .2% or .25% or have multi-tier BAC limits—i.e. .08%, .15%, and .2%. These higher limits are linked to stricter penalties than the .08% threshold, due to the increased threat to the public.

How Might Law Enforcement Test Your BAC Level?

All US states have what’s known as "implied consent" laws, which require any driver arrested for driving under the influence to agree to chemical testing. Typically, law enforcement tests BAC levels using a breathalyzer or blood test but occasionally uses urine testing.

Here’s a quick rundown of the methods that law enforcement typically uses to determine whether someone is driving under the influence.

Field Sobriety Tests :

During DUI stops, law enforcement might ask a driver to perform a field sobriety test, or FST, before administering a chemical BAC test. There are several different methods an officer might use such as a one-leg stand, the walk-and-turn, the horizontal gaze nystagmus, among others.


Poor FST performance may prompt an officer to request breathalyzer or blood test for further investigation. That said, drivers aren’t legally obligated to participate in FST’s and can’t be formally charged for refusing to take the test—though they may be subject to another form of testing due to the implied consent law.

Breathalyzer :

Breathalyzers are the standard testing method used by law enforcement to determine an individual’s BAC level. Today’s devices are lightweight and accurate, making this the most convenient testing method for officers out in the field. The idea is that there is a direct relationship between BAC and the concentration of alcohol on the breath. When a person breathes, gas is exchanged from the lungs to the blood—oxygen on the inhale, and CO2 on the exhale. During that exchange, the alcohol in the bloodstream vaporizes and is carried out of the lungs when a person exhales.

Blood testing :

Blood tests are the most accurate BAC testing method, though they are subject to lab testing errors. For law enforcement officers, blood tests lack the convenience of the breathalyzer, as they’ll need to obtain consent from the driver to draw blood and transport that individual to a medical facility to perform the test. In some states, drivers have the choice to between breath and blood testing—though most opt for the former. Blood tests are typically used when the driver is deceased or unconscious or has a medical condition like asthma or emphysema that prevents them from blowing hard enough to get an accurate read.

Urine testing :

Urine testing isn’t the most accurate way to assess an individual’s current intoxication level, but it does indicate a presence of alcohol in a person’s system. Typically, alcohol enters the blood within about 15 minutes after it was consumed and, at that point, an individual may start experiencing the initial signs of intoxication. Again, it takes about an hour for the liver to metabolize alcohol, and within 1.5 to 2 hours, it will begin to show up in the urine. This test is used primarily to determine whether a person had been drinking hours before.


This method does come with some problems. For one, urine alcohol concentration doesn’t directly correspond to BAC numbers and varies based on several factors like whether or not a person was dehydrated or their metabolism. The presence of sugar and acetone in the body can cause false positives, as they may cause fermentation in the urine.


Refusing chemical testing upon a lawful request from a police officer generally leads to a license suspension. And, should the case go to trial, the prosecution is typically allowed to tell the jury you refused to take the test.

What Does a DUI Mean for Your Insurance Rates?

While some insurance companies do provide service to drivers with a DUI on their record, they will charge more than they would someone without a history of risky driving behavior.

Because your driving record plays a major role in determining how much you’ll pay for auto insurance, DUI convictions can cause insurance rates to surge. Factors like age, driving history, and the amount of time that has passed since the DUI all come into play here—and once a DUI is removed from your driving record, you’ll likely see a reduction in insurance premiums.

In most states, DUIs will stay on your driving record for three to five years, though in some cases, like in the state of CA, that number jumps to 10. It’s also worth mentioning that driving records and criminal records are not the same—and DUI convictions stay on criminal records for life.

Sources:

  • https://alcohol.stanford.edu/alcohol-drug-info/buzz-buzz/factors-affect-how-alcohol-absorbed
  • https://mcwell.nd.edu/your-well-being/physical-well-being/alcohol/blood-alcohol-concentration/
  • https://www.rethinkingdrinking.niaaa.nih.gov/How-much-is-too-much/what-counts-as-a-drink/whats-A-Standard-drink.aspx
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