Vaping & smoking quit statistics 2026
· Keel Habit · Every figure carries its source and year · General education, not medical advice
The short answer
In the US, about 11.5% of adults smoke cigarettes and 4.5% use e-cigarettes. Most smokers want to quit and over half try each year, but only about 7.5% succeed in a given year — quitting cold with no support works just 3–5% of the time long-term, while medication and coaching support can double the odds.
How many people smoke and vape
Smoking has fallen dramatically over sixty years, while vaping rose fast and is now declining among young people.
- 11.5% of US adults — about 28.8 million people — smoked cigarettes in 2022 (CDC, 2022). In 1965, it was around 42% (CDC).
- 4.5% of US adults used e-cigarettes in 2021, with the highest rate among adults aged 18–24 (CDC, 2021).
- 1.63 million US students currently used e-cigarettes in 2024 — 7.8% of high schoolers and 3.5% of middle schoolers (CDC/FDA National Youth Tobacco Survey, 2024).
- Youth vaping peaked in 2019, when 27.5% of high school students reported current e-cigarette use (CDC, 2019) — so the 2024 figure represents a large decline.
- About 9 in 10 youth vapers (89.4%) used flavored e-cigarettes (CDC, 2023), and disposables were the most commonly used device type (CDC/FDA, 2024).
- Globally, roughly 1.25 billion adults use tobacco (WHO, 2024).
Quit attempts and success rates
Wanting to quit is the norm, not the exception — the gap is between attempts and lasting success.
- 68% of adult smokers said they wanted to quit completely (CDC, 2015).
- 55.1% of adult smokers made a quit attempt during 2018; 7.5% successfully quit that year (CDC, 2018).
- Unaided quitting succeeds about 3–5% of the time at 6–12 months, per a systematic review (Addiction, 2004).
- Nicotine replacement therapy (patches, gum, lozenges) raises quit rates by 50–60% versus placebo (Cochrane, 2018).
- Varenicline more than doubles the chances of quitting versus placebo (Cochrane, 2016).
- Combining medication with counseling or coaching support is more effective than either alone (CDC).
- It may take 30 or more attempts before quitting successfully, per a longitudinal analysis (BMJ Open, 2016).
Quitting vaping: what the research shows
Vaping cessation research is younger than smoking research, but the first large trials exist — enough to inform a practical guide to quitting vaping.
- In a randomized trial of Truth Initiative's "This Is Quitting" text-message program, 24.1% of young adult vapers who received the program reported abstinence at seven months, versus 18.6% in the control group (JAMA Internal Medicine, 2021).
- Truth Initiative research consistently finds that a majority of young people who vape report wanting to quit (Truth Initiative).
- Nicotine withdrawal from vaping follows the same pattern as smoking: symptoms typically peak within the first three days and fade substantially over two to four weeks (CDC; NHS) — the full nicotine withdrawal timeline breaks that curve down day by day.
What happens after you quit: the recovery timeline
The body starts repairing within minutes of the last cigarette. These milestones are published by the WHO and the US Surgeon General (via CDC), and our quit-smoking recovery timeline covers where each figure is firm and where it is approximate:
| Time since quitting | What recovers |
|---|---|
| 20 minutes | Heart rate and blood pressure drop |
| 12 hours | Carbon monoxide in the blood returns to normal |
| 2 weeks – 3 months | Circulation improves and lung function increases |
| 1–9 months | Coughing and shortness of breath decrease |
| 1 year | Excess risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker's |
| 5–15 years | Stroke risk falls to that of a non-smoker |
| 10 years | Lung cancer death risk is about half that of a continuing smoker |
| 15 years | Coronary heart disease risk matches a non-smoker's |
Source: WHO; US Surgeon General reports, via CDC.
Relapse: when it happens and why timing matters
- Relapse risk is highest in the first days and weeks after quitting, when withdrawal is strongest; withdrawal typically peaks within the first three days (CDC; NHS). Because early slips are so common, it helps to read why a lapse is not the same as a relapse.
- People who quit before age 40 avoid about 90% of the excess risk of death caused by continued smoking (New England Journal of Medicine, 2013).
- On average, smokers die about 10 years earlier than people who never smoked (CDC).
The cost of not quitting
- Cigarette smoking causes more than 480,000 deaths per year in the United States (CDC).
- Tobacco kills more than 8 million people per year worldwide, including about 1.3 million non-smokers exposed to second-hand smoke (WHO, 2023).
- Smoking costs the US more than $600 billion a year, including over $240 billion in direct health-care spending (CDC, 2022).
Summary table: the key numbers
| Statistic | Figure | Source, year |
|---|---|---|
| US adult smoking rate | 11.5% (~28.8M people) | CDC, 2022 |
| US adult e-cigarette use | 4.5% | CDC, 2021 |
| US youth currently vaping | 1.63M students (7.8% HS, 3.5% MS) | CDC/FDA NYTS, 2024 |
| Youth vaping at its 2019 peak | 27.5% of high schoolers | CDC, 2019 |
| Smokers who want to quit | 68% | CDC, 2015 |
| Smokers who tried to quit in a year | 55.1% | CDC, 2018 |
| Smokers who succeeded that year | 7.5% | CDC, 2018 |
| Unaided quit success (6–12 mo) | 3–5% | Addiction, 2004 |
| Quit-rate lift from NRT | +50–60% | Cochrane, 2018 |
| Attempts it may take to quit | 30+ | BMJ Open, 2016 |
| Text-support vaping quit rate (7 mo) | 24.1% vs 18.6% control | JAMA Internal Medicine, 2021 |
| Excess death risk avoided by quitting before 40 | ~90% | NEJM, 2013 |
| Annual US deaths from smoking | 480,000+ | CDC |
| Annual worldwide tobacco deaths | 8M+ (1.3M second-hand) | WHO, 2023 |
Citing this page: journalists, researchers and educators are welcome to reuse any figure here with a link to this page. Every statistic above is drawn from the named public source — verify against the primary source for formal work. Press assets are in the Keel Habit press kit.
References
- CDC — Smoking & Tobacco Use (National Health Interview Survey; National Youth Tobacco Survey; Surgeon General reports)
- World Health Organization — Tobacco
- US FDA — Tobacco Products (co-publishes the National Youth Tobacco Survey)
- Truth Initiative (This Is Quitting program research)
- Cochrane (systematic reviews of nicotine replacement therapy and cessation medication)
- Peer-reviewed journals: Addiction (2004 review of unaided cessation), BMJ Open (2016 quit-attempts analysis), JAMA Internal Medicine (2021 vaping-cessation trial), New England Journal of Medicine (2013 hazards-of-smoking analysis)
Questions, answered
What percentage of smokers successfully quit?
In CDC data from 2018, 55.1% of US adult smokers made a quit attempt during the year and 7.5% successfully quit. Unaided ('cold turkey') attempts succeed about 3–5% of the time at 6–12 months, per a systematic review in the journal Addiction (2004). Support roughly doubles those odds: nicotine replacement therapy raises quit rates by 50–60% (Cochrane, 2018) and varenicline more than doubles them versus placebo (Cochrane, 2016).
How many quit attempts does it take to quit smoking for good?
More than most people expect. A longitudinal analysis published in BMJ Open (2016) estimated that it may take 30 or more quit attempts before quitting successfully. Each attempt is practice, not failure — most people who eventually quit tried many times first.
How many young people vape?
In the 2024 National Youth Tobacco Survey, 7.8% of US high school students and 3.5% of middle school students reported current e-cigarette use — about 1.63 million students in total (CDC/FDA, 2024). That is a large drop from the 2019 peak, when 27.5% of high school students vaped.
When do most relapses happen?
Relapse risk is highest in the first days and weeks after quitting, when nicotine withdrawal is strongest. Withdrawal symptoms typically peak within the first three days and fade substantially over two to four weeks (CDC; NHS). The longer a quit lasts, the lower the risk of relapse becomes.
Is it worth quitting if you've smoked for years?
Yes — at any age, but especially before 40. People who quit smoking before age 40 avoid about 90% of the excess risk of death caused by continued smoking (New England Journal of Medicine, 2013). On average, smokers die about 10 years earlier than people who never smoked (CDC), and recovery starts within 20 minutes of the last cigarette.
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