Tobacco & Vaping 101: Tennessee

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

Key Points: 

• In 2022, more than one million Tennessee adults (18.5 percent) were currently smoking. This a 6.1 percent decrease from 2021 and represents 50,663 fewer adults smoking.
• In 2022 (among all Tennessee adults), 6.6 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds, 22.2 percent of 25–44-year-olds, 24 percent of 45–64-year-olds, and 12.1 percent of adults aged 65 years or older were currently smoking combustible cigarettes.
• Among all adults earning $25,000 or less in 2022, 34.3 percent were currently smoking compared to only 11.2 percent of adults earning $50,000 or more.
• Among all smoking adults in Tennessee in 2022, 75.3 percent were White, 14.3percent were Black, 5.8 percent were Hispanic, and 4.5 percent were Multiracial (non-Hispanic).
• In 2022, 595,426 Tennessee adults (10.8 percent) were currently using e-cigarettes. This a 18.7 percent increase from 2021 and represents 100,882 additional adults vaping.
• Among all vaping adults in Tennessee in 2022, 21.3 percent were 18 to 24 years old, 54.9 percent were 25 to 44 years old, 18.7 percent were 45 to 64 years old and five percent were 65 years or older.
• In 2021, for every one Tennessee high school student who was smoking, more than 73 adults were currently using cigarettes.
• In 2021, for every one Tennessee high school student who was vaping, more than eight 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 Tennessee adults aged 18 to 24 years old decreased by 54.5 percent.
• Cigarette excise taxes in Tennessee disproportionately impact low income and low educated persons, while failing to significantly reduce smoking rates among that class.
• The percentage of Tennessee adults earning $25,000 or less that were smoking decreased by 7.8 percent between 2007 and 2022, while the percentage of adults earning $50,000 or more who were smoking decreased by 29.3 percent during the same period.
• Among Tennessee adults who did not graduate high school, smoking rates decreased by 5.9 percent, yet rates among adults with a college degree decreased by 33.1 percent.
• Tennessee 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.