Tobacco & Vaping 101: New Jersey

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

Key Points: 

• In 2022, an estimated 755,829 adults (10.4 percent) were currently smoking. This is a 2.8 percent decrease from 2021 and represents 19,279 fewer adults smoking.
• In 2022 (among all New Jersey adults), 4.4 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds, 12.7 percent of 25–44-year-olds, 12.9 percent of 45–64-year-olds, and 6.7 percent of adults aged 65 years or older were currently smoking combustible cigarettes.
• Among all adults earning $25,000 or less in 2022, 19.3 percent were currently smoking compared to only 8.1 percent of adults earning $50,000 or more.
• Among all smoking adults in New Jersey in 2022, 53.7 percent were White, 23.2 percent were Hispanic, 14.4 percent were Black, 5.4 percent were Asian, and 3.3 percent were Multiracial (non-Hispanic).
• In 2022, 443,323 New Jersey adults (6.1 percent) were currently using e-cigarettes. This a 1.7 percent increase from 2021 and represents 8,683 additional adults vaping.
• Among all vaping adults in New Jersey in 2022, 25.1 percent were 18 to 24 years old, 51.8 percent were 25 to 44 years old, 19 percent were 45 to 64 years old and 4.1 percent were 65 years or older.
• In 2021, for every one New Jersey high school student who was smoking, more than 49 adults were currently using cigarettes.
• In 2021, for every one New Jersey high school student who was vaping, more than four adults were currently using e-cigarettes.
• 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.
• Unfortunately, due to prohibitions on vaping devices, smoking rates among 18 to 24 year olds has increased by 12.8 percent between 2018 and 2022.
• Cigarette excise taxes in New Jersey disproportionately impact low income and low educated persons, while failing to significantly reduce smoking rates among that class.
• The percentage of New Jersey adults earning $25,000 or less that were smoking decreased by 15.5 percent between 2009 and 2022, while the percent of adults earning $50,000 or more that were smoking decreased by 37 percent during the same period.
• Among New Jersey adults who did not graduate high school, smoking rates remained unchanged, yet rates among adults with a college degree decreased by 55.9 percent.
• New Jersey 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 2022, for every $1 the state received in tobacco monies, it spent less than $0.01 on tobacco control efforts.