Can Passengers Drink Alcohol in a Car? A 50-State Guide

In most of the United States, no. Thirty-eight states meet the federal open container standard, which calls for a law reaching anyone in the passenger area of a vehicle on a public road who drinks alcohol or holds an open container. The remaining twelve states and the District of Columbia are listed by the Federal Highway Administration as falling short of that standard, but they fall short in very different ways. A handful, such as Connecticut, Delaware, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee and Virginia, have no statewide rule that stops a sober passenger from drinking. Others, such as Ohio, Hawaii and DC, ban passenger drinking but miss some federal requirement.

This guide was checked against official sources in October 2026. Statutes and city ordinances change, so confirm the current text before relying on any line below.

The federal open container rule

Congress added the open container program to federal highway law as part of TEA-21, the 1998 Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century. It is codified at 23 U.S.C. 154, and the details are in 23 CFR Part 1270. The federal law is not itself a criminal ban; it sets what state law must contain.

Under 23 CFR 1270.4, a qualifying state law must:

• Prohibit both possessing any open alcoholic beverage container and consuming any alcoholic beverage in the passenger area of a motor vehicle.
• Apply to all occupants, including the driver, and to all alcoholic beverages.
• Cover every motor vehicle on a public highway or the right-of-way of a public highway.
• Allow primary enforcement, meaning police can stop and cite for the violation on its own.

The regulation lets a state exempt passengers (never the driver) in a vehicle designed, maintained or used primarily to carry people for compensation, such as a bus, taxi or limousine, and passengers riding in a house coach or house trailer's living quarters. It also lets a state permit an open container in a locked compartment such as a locked glove box, or, in a vehicle without a trunk, behind the rearmost upright seat or in a space nobody normally sits.

A state that does not comply is not fined. Each October 1, FHWA reserves 2.5 percent of what the state receives from National Highway Performance Program and Surface Transportation Block Grant apportionments. The state then chooses how to split that money between alcohol-impaired driving programs under the Section 402 highway safety program and Highway Safety Improvement Program projects. For fiscal year 2027, FHWA Notice N 4510.916, dated October 1, 2026, lists Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, Wyoming and the District of Columbia. The prior year's list, N 4510.905, named the same twelve states without DC.

State-by-state: passengers and open containers

"Compliant" below means FHWA reserved no Section 154 funds from the state for fiscal year 2027. Each source links to the statute on the official state legislature or code website. Georgia, New Jersey and New Mexico offer no stable link to a single section, so for those three the link opens the official code site, where you can look up the cited section.

Common exceptions and storage rules

Even in strict states, a few situations are usually carved out:

• Vehicles for hire. Most states let paying passengers drink in a limousine, charter bus or similar vehicle used primarily to carry people for compensation. The driver is never covered by this exception, and some states, Colorado among them, also exclude the front seat passenger.
• Motor home living quarters. Passengers in the living area of an RV or house coach are often exempt, though some states require the alcohol to be secured while moving.
• Storage. An opened bottle can usually ride in the trunk. In a vehicle with no trunk, many states accept the area behind the last upright seat, and some accept a locked glove compartment. Read your own state's wording, because not every state includes all three options.
• Local rules. Cities and counties may add their own bans. Tennessee and Mississippi expressly leave room for local regulation, and Wyoming defers to municipal ordinances inside town limits.

Related points

Driver liability. In several states the law is written so that the driver, not the passenger, faces the citation. Alaska, Maine and Rhode Island all work this way. Separately, any amount of drinking by the driver can support a DUI charge if it impairs driving, regardless of the open container rules.

Riding with an intoxicated driver. Whether a passenger may drink is a different question from riding with a driver who is impaired. A sober passenger generally commits no open container offense by riding along, while the driver's impairment is a DUI matter, and in some places an owner who lets an impaired person drive faces separate liability.

Rideshare cars. Uber's community guidelines say open containers of alcohol are not allowed while using its apps, so a rider can lose access to the service even where state law is silent. Whether a private car used for rideshare fits a state's vehicle-for-hire exception depends on statutory wording such as "used primarily" for compensation, and is not settled the same way everywhere, so do not assume the limo exception covers it.

Colorado note

Colorado's rule is C.R.S. 42-4-1305. It says a person in the passenger area of a motor vehicle on a public highway, or its right-of-way, may not knowingly drink an alcoholic beverage or possess an open container. A violation is a class A traffic infraction, listed in the statute as a fifty dollar fine plus a surcharge.

The exceptions are narrow. Passengers other than the driver or a front seat passenger may drink in a vehicle used primarily to carry people for compensation, and those same riders may keep an open container in the living area of a motor home or similar coach. In a trunkless vehicle, the container may sit behind the final seat that stands upright, or somewhere not normally occupied. The Colorado definition of passenger area includes the glove compartment and does not separately exempt a locked one. Denver and other home rule cities may adopt ordinances that are no less restrictive than the state law.

Sources and how to check current law

• Federal statute: 23 U.S.C. 154 open container requirements
• Federal regulation: 23 CFR Part 1270 on eCFR
• FY 2027 noncompliance list: FHWA Notice N 4510.916, October 1, 2026
• FY 2026 noncompliance list: FHWA Notice N 4510.905, October 1, 2025
• State statute text in one place: NCSL open container and consumption statutes
• Historical state summaries: NHTSA Digest of Impaired Driving and Selected Beverage Control Laws, 30th edition

To check a state yourself, read the Section 154 paragraph of FHWA's latest October apportionment notice, then the statute on the state legislature's code website and any local ordinance.