What is BAC?

Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) is a measure of alcohol in the bloodstream as a percentage.

• A BAC of 0.10% means 1 drop of alcohol for 1,000 drops of blood.
• In every U.S. state, it's illegal to drive with a BAC 0.08% or higher. In Utah, the limit is 0.05%. The BAC limit is often lower for drivers younger than 21. Search your state laws and statistics through Responsibility.org.

Staying in the "Golden Zone"

Judgment and reaction skills begin to be affected at BACs of 0.05%.

The peak high or buzz a person feels from alcohol is reached at BACs between 0.02% and 0.06% (AKA the Golden Zone). 

A person is much more likely to get what they want from drinking (relaxation, feeling more social) and less of what they don't (hangovers, regretted behavior, injuries) by keeping BAC in the Golden Zone. The Gordie Center's BAC charts below highlight how to stay in the Golden Zone.

Learn more about the factors that impact BAC in Responsibility.org's Virtual Bar. This interactive software demonstrates how different drinking scenarios affect Blood Alcohol Concentration. By re-creating realistic drinking experiences, you will be able to see how the same amount of alcohol can affect others of different weight and gender, the impact of eating different foods and the time to return to a 0.00 BAC.

Check out the Gordie Center's BAC charts below to learn how to estimate BAC from number of drinks over different amounts of time for males and females.