Tobacco & Vaping 101: Maine

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 Maine. This information aslo includes data on youth use, impacts of e-cigarettes and analyses of existing tobacco monies.

Key Points: 

• In 2021, 15.6 percent of adults were currently smoking in Maine. This is a 5.5 percent decrease from 2020.
• In 2021 (among all Maine adults), 6.3 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds, 22.2 percent of 25–44-year-olds, 19.4 percent of 45–64-year-olds, and 7.8 percent of adults aged 65 years or older were currently smoking combustible cigarettes.
• Among all adults earning $25,000 or less in 2021, 36.5 percent were currently smoking compared to only 9.5 percent of adults earning $50,000 or more.
• Among all smoking adults in 2021 in Maine, 94 percent were White, 2.6 percent were Multiracial, 1.9 percent were Hispanic, and 1.8 percent were American Indian/Native Alaskan.
• Cigarette excise taxes in Maine disproportionately impact low-income persons and lower educated adults, while failing to significantly reduce smoking rates among that class.
• The percent of Maine adults earning $25,000 or less that were smoking increased by 16.4 percent between 2005 and 2021, while the percent of adults earning $50,000 or more that were smoking decreased by 26.9 percent during the same period.
• Among Mainers who did not graduate high school, smoking rates increased by 3.3 percent, yet rates among adults with a college degree decreased by 29.4 percent.
• In 2021, 5.8 percent of adults reported past-month e-cigarette use, which was a 41.5 percent increase from 2017.
• In 2021, 17.4 percent of Maine high schoolers and 4.4 percent of middle schoolers reported current use of e-cigarettes. Between 2019 and 2021, vaping among high schoolers decreased by 39.4 percent and among middle schoolers by 37.1 percent.
• In 2021, only 5.5 percent of high school students and 1.4 percent of middle school students reported current use of combustible cigarettes, which are some of the lowest levels recorded.
• 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, smoking rates among Maine adults aged 18 to 24 years old declined by 49.8 percent. Since 2018, young adult smoking rates have decreased another 56.3 percent, with average annual declines of 21.3 percent.
• Maine 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 only $0.08 on tobacco control efforts.