Can a Passenger Drink Alcohol in a Car? Open Container Laws in Every State

Usually not. A large majority of states treat an open can, bottle or cup of alcohol in the seating area as a violation no matter who is holding it, and passengers who sip from one can be ticketed just like a driver. A smaller group of states regulates only the driver, which leaves sober passengers free to drink under state law, and several more have passenger bans that federal regulators still consider incomplete.

The status below reflects official sources as checked in October 2026: the federal statute and regulation, the Federal Highway Administration's most recent list of noncompliant jurisdictions, and each state's code. Because legislatures and city councils keep revising these rules, treat this as a starting point and read the current statute for the place you will be riding.

How the federal requirement works

A 1998 highway law known as TEA-21 created a federal incentive for open container laws, now found at 23 U.S.C. 154. The implementing rules sit in 23 CFR Part 1270. Nothing in this federal scheme punishes an individual rider. It sets the minimum that a state's own law has to reach.

According to section 1270.4, the state law has to:

Ban having an open alcoholic beverage container and ban drinking any alcoholic beverage in the passenger area.
Reach every occupant of the vehicle, the driver included, and every type of alcoholic beverage.
Apply to any motor vehicle located on a public highway or its right-of-way.
Be primarily enforceable, so an officer may act on that violation alone.

Two kinds of passenger exemptions are permitted. A state may excuse riders, though not the driver, when they travel in a vehicle designed, maintained or used mainly to transport people for pay, which covers buses, taxis and limousines, and riders in the living area of a house coach or house trailer. A state may also allow an opened container stored in a locked compartment like a locked glove box, or, for a vehicle lacking a trunk, behind the last upright seat, or anywhere the occupants do not normally sit.

States that miss the mark lose flexibility rather than money outright. On October 1 of every fiscal year, FHWA holds back 2.5 percent of its NHPP and STBG apportionments, the two largest federal-aid highway formula programs, and the state decides how much goes to alcohol-impaired driving countermeasures under Section 402 and how much to Highway Safety Improvement Program work. The fiscal year 2027 apportionment notice, FHWA N 4510.916 of October 1, 2026, applies that penalty to twelve states and the District of Columbia. The fiscal year 2026 notice, FHWA N 4510.905, covered the same twelve states but not DC.

State-by-state status

Each entry gives the main statute. Every citation points to the state's own official code, usually the exact section. For Georgia, New Jersey and New Mexico, whose official publishers do not provide permanent section addresses, the citation opens that state's code portal instead and the section number tells you what to search for. "Meets Section 154" means FHWA reserved no funds for fiscal year 2027, and "fails Section 154" means it did.

Prohibits open containers for all occupants

Alabama: open containers barred in the passenger area, meets Section 154, Ala. Code 32-5A-330
Arizona: occupants may not drink or possess, meets Section 154, A.R.S. 4-251
Arkansas: any person in a seating area is covered, meets Section 154, Ark. Code 5-71-218
California: separate bans on passenger drinking and possession, meets Section 154, Cal. Veh. Code 23221, 23223
Colorado: any person in the passenger area, meets Section 154, C.R.S. 42-4-1305
Florida: drivers and passengers alike, meets Section 154, Fla. Stat. 316.1936
Georgia: passenger area ban, meets Section 154, O.C.G.A. 40-6-253
Idaho: drinking or open containers by anyone riding on a highway are barred, meets Section 154, Idaho Code 23-505
Illinois: drivers and passengers each covered, meets Section 154, 625 ILCS 5/11-502
Indiana: anyone in the passenger compartment, meets Section 154, Ind. Code 9-30-15-3
Iowa: a driver section plus a passenger section, meets Section 154, Iowa Code 321.284, 321.284A
Kansas: opened alcohol may not be carried in the cabin, meets Section 154, K.S.A. 8-1599
Kentucky: possession in the passenger area is an offense, meets Section 154, KRS 189.530
Maryland: vehicle occupants are covered, meets Section 154, Md. Crim. Law 10-125
Massachusetts: passenger area possession barred, meets Section 154, M.G.L. c. 90, 24I
Michigan: operator or occupant, meets Section 154, MCL 257.624a
Minnesota: drinking and open containers barred on public roads, meets Section 154, Minn. Stat. 169A.35
Montana: a person in a vehicle on a highway, meets Section 154, MCA 61-8-1026
Nebraska: applies to occupants, meets Section 154, Neb. Rev. Stat. 60-6,211.08
Nevada: misdemeanor in the passenger area, meets Section 154, NRS 484B.150
New Hampshire: distinct driver and passenger paragraphs, meets Section 154, RSA 265-A:44
New Jersey: passengers barred from drinking, meets Section 154, N.J.S.A. 39:4-51a, 39:4-51b
New Mexico: covers each person riding on public highways, meets Section 154, NMSA 66-8-138
New York: operators and passengers, meets Section 154, Vehicle and Traffic Law 1227
North Carolina: possession or drinking in the passenger area is an infraction, and carrying opened liquor or fortified wine is a separate misdemeanor, meets Section 154, N.C.G.S. 20-138.7, 18B-401
North Dakota: reaches public parking lots too, meets Section 154, NDCC 39-08-18
Oklahoma: passengers may not possess it in a moving vehicle, meets Section 154, 21 O.S. 1220
Oregon: drinking and possession are both violations, meets Section 154, ORS 811.170
Pennsylvania: operator or occupant, meets Section 154, 75 Pa.C.S. 3809
South Carolina: open beer or wine barred outside the trunk, with a separate liquor rule, meets Section 154, S.C. Code 61-4-110
South Dakota: any person occupying the vehicle, meets Section 154, SDCL 35-1-9.1
Texas: passenger area offense, meets Section 154, Tex. Penal Code 49.031
Utah: passengers may neither drink nor keep one, meets Section 154, Utah Code 41-6a-526
Vermont: a passenger-specific section, meets Section 154, 23 V.S.A. 1134, 1134a
Washington: traffic infractions for both, meets Section 154, RCW 46.61.519
West Virginia: operators and passengers, meets Section 154, W. Va. Code 17C-5D-3
Wisconsin: covers everyone riding on a highway, meets Section 154, Wis. Stat. 346.935

Passenger ban on the books, but listed as noncompliant

District of Columbia: no drinking or open container in a vehicle located in any street, alley, park or parking area; newly listed for FY 2027, D.C. Code 25-1001
Hawaii: a passenger-specific prohibition exists, HRS 291-3.2
Louisiana: operator and passengers barred, with carve-outs like lidded frozen drinks and parade floats, La. R.S. 32:300
Ohio: passengers covered, with exceptions for chauffeured limousines and pedal-powered commercial quadricycles, R.C. 4301.62
Wyoming: barred only while the vehicle is moving, and the law yields to city ordinances, Wyo. Stat. 31-5-235

Limited or partial laws that target the driver

Alaska: driving with an open container in the passenger compartment is the driver's infraction, fails Section 154, AS 28.35.029
Maine: the operator violates the law when a passenger drinks or holds one, fails Section 154, 29-A M.R.S. 2112-A
Rhode Island: the driver is liable for an unsealed container anywhere in the passenger section, yet the state meets Section 154, R.I. Gen. Laws 31-22-21.1

No statewide prohibition for passengers

Connecticut: only a driver who drinks is covered, fails Section 154, Conn. Gen. Stat. 53a-213
Delaware: only consumption by the driver is banned, fails Section 154, 21 Del. C. 4177J
Mississippi: no statewide vehicle open container statute, though local governments may regulate, fails Section 154, FHWA N 4510.916 and NHTSA digest
Missouri: only drinking by the driver of a moving vehicle is an infraction, fails Section 154, RSMo 577.017
Tennessee: the statute reaches drivers alone, and local governments may extend it to passengers, fails Section 154, Tenn. Code 55-10-416
Virginia: the driver may not drink, and an open container may raise a presumption against the driver, fails Section 154, Va. Code 18.2-323.1

Exceptions you will see most often

Limos, party buses and taxis. Riders who pay for transport in a vehicle used mainly for hire are commonly exempt, but the person at the wheel is not. Colorado goes further and keeps the front passenger seat under the ban.
RV living quarters. Many states exempt the living area of a motor home. Wyoming instead requires the alcohol to be secured in a cabinet while the RV is moving.
Where the bottle rides. The trunk is the safest place for an opened bottle. Trunkless vehicles often get the space behind the last upright seat, and some states allow a locked glove box. The options differ by state.
Stricter local laws. A city or county can be tougher than the state. Tennessee and Mississippi expressly permit local regulation, and Wyoming's statute steps aside inside municipalities that adopt their own ordinance.

Other things worth knowing

Who gets the ticket. Some laws are aimed at the operator. In Alaska, Maine and Rhode Island, a passenger's open drink can lead to a citation for the driver. Apart from that, a driver whose drinking affects driving faces DUI exposure whatever the open container law says.

Passengers and drunk drivers. Holding a drink as a passenger and riding with an impaired driver raise separate legal issues. Riding along is not itself an open container violation for a sober passenger, while the driver's condition falls under DUI statutes, and some states also penalize knowingly lending a vehicle to an intoxicated driver.

Rideshare trips. Per its community guidelines, Uber does not allow open containers of alcohol while using its apps, so a passenger can be removed from the platform even in a state with no passenger ban. Whether an ordinary personal car driven for a rideshare service counts as a vehicle used primarily for hire varies with each statute's wording and has not been resolved uniformly, so the limousine exception should not be assumed to apply.

Colorado note

In Colorado, C.R.S. 42-4-1305 forbids anyone seated in a vehicle's passenger area, while it is on a public highway or that highway's right-of-way, from knowingly drinking alcohol or having an open container. Breaking the rule is a class A traffic infraction; the statute sets a fifty dollar fine and adds a surcharge.

Only a few exemptions apply. In vehicles used primarily to carry people for pay, passengers may drink unless they are the driver or seated in front. Passengers outside the driver's and front seats may also hold an opened drink within a motor home, house coach or trailer coach's living space. Trunkless vehicles may carry it to the rear of the last upright seat, or in some unoccupied area. Notably, the state definition counts the glove compartment as part of the passenger area and offers no locked glove box exception. Denver and other Colorado municipalities may pass ordinances, provided they are at least as strict.

Sources and how to check current law

For the newest picture, look for FHWA's October apportionment notice and its Section 154 paragraph, read the statute on the official state code site, and check the ordinances of the city or county where the trip happens.