U.S. Adult Cigarette Smoking Rate Drops to Record Low of 9% in 2025
The CDC reported that 9% of U.S. adults smoked cigarettes last year, the second consecutive year below 10%. The survey drew responses from more than 24,200 adults.
New York PostU.S. adults fell to 9% in 2025, according to preliminary data released this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One in 11 adults said they were current smokers.
The survey recorded responses from more than 24,200 adults. CDC officials defined current cigarette smoking as having smoked at least 100 cigarettes in a lifetime and now smoking every day or some days. The same definition was used in prior years.
U.S. The percentage of current adult smokers fell below 10% for the first time in 2024. Last year’s 9% figure marks the second consecutive reading under that threshold.
The rate has been gradually dropping for decades. Factors contributing to the decline include cigarette taxes, tobacco product price hikes, smoking bans, public education campaigns and changes in the social acceptability of lighting up in public. Cigarette smoking is a risk factor for lung cancer, heart disease and stroke and has long been considered the leading cause of preventable death.
U.S. adults was about 7% in 2025. That share has held about steady this year after inching up in prior periods. Yolonda Richardson, president and chief executive of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, called the continued decline a monumental public health achievement that has saved millions of lives and billions in healthcare costs.
She said current smoking-prevention efforts have been set back by cuts in President Donald Trump’s administration that eliminated the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health and its “Tips from Former Smokers” advertising campaign. 3 billion in healthcare costs.
She said this critical work must be restored and sustained to continue reducing smoking-related disease, death and healthcare costs nationwide.
Transparency
Rewrite cleanly reports the decline but inserts selective sourcing and valence skew by attributing setbacks solely to Trump administration cuts via one advocacy leader with no counterpoint.
Selective sourcing: Single advocacy voice frames all remaining challenges
The long-term decline in smoking to a record 9% persisted and even accelerated despite the elimination of specific federal programs, suggesting that taxes, bans, price hikes and shifting social norms are sufficient drivers of success.
2 independent outlets report the same core facts. This score blends how many outlets corroborate, their editorial tier, and how closely their facts agree — it measures corroboration, not proof.
Sources framed at 65 → our rewrite 35. We stripped 30 points of framing the sources carried in.
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