Tobacco & Vaping 101: Utah

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

Key Points: 

• In 2021, 7.2 percent of adults were currently smoking in Utah. This is a 12.2 percent decrease from 2020.
• In 2021 (among all Utah adults), 4.1 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds, 10 percent of 25–44-year-olds, 7.8 percent of 45–64-year-olds, and four percent of adults aged 65 years or older were currently smoking combustible cigarettes.
• Among all adults earning $25,000 or less in 2021, 19.4 percent were currently smoking compared to only 4.5 percent of adults earning $50,000 or more.
• Among all smoking adults in 2021 in Utah, 73.6 percent were White, 18 percent were Hispanic, 3.3 percent were Multiracial, non-Hispanic, three percent were American Indian/Alaska Native and 2.1 percent were Black.
• Cigarette excise taxes in Utah disproportionately impact low-income persons, while failing to significantly reduce smoking rates among that class.
• The percent of Utah adults earning $25,000 or less that were smoking increased by 17.9 percent between 2005 and 2021, while the percent of adults earning $50,000 or more that were smoking decreased by 18.2 percent during the same period.
• In 2021, 7.2 percent of Utah adults reported past-month e-cigarette use, which was a 56.3 percent increase from 2017.
• Youth vaping seems to have peaked in 2019 when 20 percent of youth reported current e-cigarette use. Between 2019 and 2022, current e-cigarette use declined by 53 percent.
• Traditional tobacco use among youth is at record lows. In 2022, only 1.9 percent of U.S. youth reported current cigar use, 1.6 percent reported current combustible cigarette use, and 1.3 percent reported using smokeless tobacco products.
• 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 33 percent. Since 2018, young adult smoking rates have decreased another 30.5 percent, with average annual declines of 11.3 percent.
• Utah 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 $0.14 on tobacco control efforts.