Tobacco & Vaping 101: Indiana

Lawmakers are often bombarded with misinformation on the products used by adults in their state. This annual analysis provides up-to-date data on the adults who use cigarettes and e-cigarette products in Indiana. This information aslo includes data on youth use, impacts of e-cigarettes and analyses of existing tobacco monies.

Key Points: 

• In 2021, 17.3 percent of adults were currently smoking in Indiana. This is a 10.8 percent decrease from 2020.
• In 2021 (among all Indiana adults), 7.4 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds, 22.1 percent of 25–44-year-olds, 21 percent of 45–64-year-olds, and 11 percent of adults aged 65 years or older were currently smoking combustible cigarettes.
• Among all adults earning $25,000 or less in 2021, 33.1 percent were currently smoking compared to only 11.7 percent of adults earning $50,000 or more.
• Among all smoking adults in 2021, 82.6 percent were White, 10.3 percent were black, 4.9 percent were Hispanic, 1.5 percent were Multiracial, non-Hispanic, and 1.2 percent were American Indian/Native Alaskan.
• Cigarette excise taxes in Indiana disproportionately impact low income, low education persons, while failing to significantly reduce smoking rates among that class.
• The number of percent of Indiana adults earning $25,000 or less that were smoking decreased by 6.8 percent between 2007 and 2021, while the percent of adults earning $50,000 or more that were smoking decreased by 30.4 percent during the same period.
• Among Hoosiers who did not graduate high school, smoking rates decreased by 20.8 percent, yet rates among adults with a college degree decreased by 42.9 percent.
• In 2021, 8.1 percent of adults reported past-month e-cigarette use, which was a 35 percent increase from 2017.
• The introduction of e-cigarettes has not led to increases in cigarette smoking, but rather, correlates with significant declines in smoking rates among young adults.
• Between 2007 and 2018, young adult smoking rates declined by 38.3 percent. Since 2018, young adult smoking rates have decreased another 59.8 percent, with average annual declines of 25.7 percent.
• Indiana woefully underfunds programs to prevent youth use of tobacco and/or vapor products and help adults quit smoking, while simultaneously receiving millions of dollars from the pockets of the adults who smoke. In 2021, for every $1 the state received in tobacco monies, it spent $0.02 on tobacco control efforts.