Key Points:

• In 2023, 88,359 Alaska adults (15.3 percent) were currently smoking. This is a 3.8 percent decrease from 2022 and represents 3,036 fewer adults smoking.

• Among all smoking adults in Alaska in 2023, 6.4 percent were 18 to 24 years old, 41.6 percent were 25 to 44 years old, 39.2 percent were 45 to 64 years old, and 12.8 percent were 65 years or older.

• Among all adults earning $25,000 or less in 2023, 36.6 percent were currently smoking compared to 9 percent of adults earning $50,000 or more.

• Among all smoking adults in Alaska in 2023, 46.6 percent were White, 29 percent were American Indian/Alaska Native, 11.9 percent were Multiracial, 4.9 percent were Hispanic, 3.1 percent were Black, 2.4 percent were Asian, and 2.1 percent were adults identifying as “Other.”

• In 2023, 59,137 Alaska adults (10.6 percent) were currently using e-cigarettes. This is a 55.9 percent increase from 2022 and represents 21,133 additional adults vaping.

• Among all vaping adults in Alaska in 2023, 26.7 percent were 18 to 24 years old, 53.7 percent were 25 to 44 years old, 16.1 percent were 45 to 64 years old and 3.5 percent were 65 years or older.

• In 2023, for every one Alaska high school student who was smoking, more 33 adults were currently using cigarettes.

• In 2023, for every one Alaska 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 2007 and 2023, smoking rates among Alaska adults aged 18 to 24 years old decreased by 66.4 percent.

• E-cigarette use has declined among Alaska young adults. Between 2022 and 2023, e-cigarette use among 18- to 24-year-olds decreased by 15.2 percent.

• Cigarette excise taxes in Alaska disproportionately impact low income and low education persons, while failing to significantly reduce smoking rates among that class.

• Among Alaska adults earning $25,000 or less, smoking rates increased on average by 0.3 percent annually between 2003 and 2023, while rates among adults earning $50,000 or more decreased by 2.4 percent during the same period.

• In 2023, low-income adults were 4.1 times more likely to smoke than high income earners.

• In 2023, among Alaska adults who did not graduate high school, 35.3 percent were currently smoking, while only 9 percent of college graduates were smoking.

• In 2023, adults lacking a high school diploma were 6.8 times more likely to smoke than college graduates.

• Alaska 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 2023, for every $1 the state received in tobacco monies, it spent only $0.11 on tobacco control efforts.