Tobacco & Vaping 101: Pennsylvania

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 Key Stone 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 1.5 million adults (14.9 percent) were currently smoking. This is a 3.5 percent increase from 2021 and represents 60,017 additional adults smoking.
• In 2022 (among all Pennsylvania adults), 7.8 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds, 19.4 percent of 25–44-year-olds, 18.1 percent of 45–64-year-olds, and 8.6 percent of adults aged 65 years or older were currently smoking combustible cigarettes.
• Among all adults earning $25,000 or less in 2022, 26.7 percent were currently smoking compared to only 9.9 percent of adults earning $50,000 or more.
• Among all smoking adults in Pennsylvania in 2022, 72.3 percent were White, 13.6 percent were Black, nine percent were Hispanic, 2.6 percent were Multiracial (non-Hispanic), and 2.5 percent were Asian.
• In 2022, 765,718 Pennsylvania adults (7.4 percent) were currently using e-cigarettes. This a 21.3 percent increase from 2021 and represents 138,025 additional adults vaping.
• Among all vaping adults in Pennsylvania in 2022, 31.3 percent were 18 to 24 years old, 45.2 percent were 25 to 44 years old, 17.7 percent were 45 to 64 years old and 5.8 percent were 65 years or older.
• In 2021, for every one Pennsylvania high school student who was smoking, more than 64 adults were currently using cigarettes.
• In 2021, for every one Pennsylvania high school student who was vaping, more than five 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.
• Between 2018 and 2022, smoking rates among Pennsylvania adults aged 18 to 24 years old decreased by 24.3 percent.
• Cigarette excise taxes in Pennsylvania disproportionately impact low income and low educated persons, while failing to significantly reduce smoking rates among that class.
• The percentage of Pennsylvania adults earning $25,000 or less that were smoking decreased by 10.7 percent between 2017 and 2022, while the percent of adults earning $50,000 or more that were smoking decreased by 26.9 percent during the same period.
• Among Pennsylvania adults who did not graduate high school, smoking rates increased by 9.8 percent, and rates among adults with a college degree decreased by 13.2 percent.
• Pennsylvania 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 $0.01 on tobacco control efforts.