Key Points:

• In 2022, 610,346 Kentucky adults (17.4 percent) were currently smoking. This is an 11.2 percent decrease from 2021 and represents 74,377 fewer adults smoking.

• Among all smoking adults in Kentucky in 2022, 6.3 percent were 18 to 24 years old, 31.5 percent were 25 to 44 years old, 46.3 percent were 45 to 64 years old, and 15.8 percent were 65 years or older.

• Among all adults earning $25,000 or less in 2022, 32.4 percent were currently smoking compared to only 10.3 percent of adults earning $50,000 or more.

• Among all smoking adults in Kentucky in 2022, 85.1 percent were White, 9.3 percent were Black, and 5.6 percent were Hispanic.

• In 2022, 366,697 Kentucky adults (10.5 percent) were currently using e-cigarettes. This is a 12.9 percent increase from 2021 and represents 42,558 additional adults vaping.

• Among all vaping adults in Kentucky in 2022, 33.4 percent were 18 to 24 years old, 45.1 percent were 25 to 44 years old, 16.1 percent were 45 to 64 years old and 5.4 percent were 65 years or older.

• In 2021, for every one Kentucky high school student who was smoking, more than 70 adults were currently using cigarettes.

• In 2021, for every one Kentucky high school student who was vaping, more than seven 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 2022, smoking rates among Kentucky adults aged 18 to 24 years old decreased by 75.8 percent.

• E-cigarette use has remained stable among Kentucky young adults. Between 2021 and 2022, e-cigarette use among 18- to 24-year-olds increased by 3.2 percent.

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

• Among Kentucky adults earning $25,000 or less, smoking rates decreased on average by 1.2 percent annually between 2002 and 2022, while rates among adults earning $50,000 or more decreased by 2.6 percent during the same period.

• In 2022, low-income adults were 3.1 times more likely to smoke than high income earners.

• In 2022, among Kentucky adults who did not graduate high school, 24.7 percent were currently smoking, while only 7.1 percent of college graduates were smoking.

• In 2022, adults lacking a high school diploma were 3.5 times more likely to smoke than college graduates.

• Kentucky 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.