Study: San Antonio had the most drunk-driving arrests in the nation from 2009 to 2018

San Antonio led the nation in an unfortunate statistic from 2009 to 2018, according to a new study.

The Alamo City had the most drunk-driving arrests in America over that time period, per Smart Advocate.

The company, which offers software for law firms, examined 30 of the most populated cities in the country using the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer.

“The city with the most drunk-driving arrests in America from 2009-18 was San Antonio, Texas,” Smart Advocate said in a March news release. “With 77,357 drunk-driving arrests from 2009-18, San Antonio ‘won’ the top spot.”

The city beat out Los Angeles (72,156 arrests) and Phoenix (72,013 arrests) for the undesirable No. 1 ranking. Two other Texas cities — Houston (No. 6 with 58,064 arrests) and Austin (No. 7 with 54,087 arrests) also cracked the top 10.

San Antonio also ranked among the worst offenders for average arrests each year per 100,000 people.

With 5,181 drunk-driving arrests, the city trailed only Las Vegas (9,284 arrests) and Austin (5,804 arrests) in that category.

Six Texas cities landed in the top 20. The others were El Paso (No. 5 with 3,968 arrests), Houston (No. 11 with 2,529 arrests), Fort Worth (No. 17 with 1,777 arrests), and Dallas (No. 18 with 1,683 arrests).

Smart Advocate compiled the rankings using data provided by the relevant municipal police departments to the FBI through the uniform crime reporting program.

The 10 cities with the most drunk-driving arrests out of the 30 most populated cities (2009-18)

1. San Antonio, Texas: 77,357

2. Los Angeles, California: 72,156

3. Phoenix, Arizona: 72,013

4. New York, New York: 65,788

5. Las Vegas, Nevada: 61,278

6. Houston, Texas: 58,064

7. Austin, Texas: 54,087

8. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: 41,098

9. Chicago, Illinois: 30,452

10. San Diego, California: 28,389

The 10 cities with the highest amounts of drunk-driving arrests per 100,000 people (2009-18)

1. Las Vegas, Nevada: 9,824

2. Austin, Texas: 5,804

3. San Antonio, Texas: 5,181

4. Phoenix, Arizona: 4,607

5. El Paso, Texas: 3,968

6. Nashville, Tennessee: 3,417

7. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: 2,741

8. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: 2,622

9. Denver, Colorado: 2,616

10. Houston, Texas: 2,529