Key Points:

• In 2023, 487,780 Oklahoma adults (15.8 percent) were currently smoking. This is a 1.3 percent increase from 2022 and represents 11,395 additional adults smoking.

• Among all smoking adults in Oklahoma in 2023, 7.9 percent were 18 to 24 years old, 35.5 percent were 25 to 44 years old, 39.1 percent were 45 to 64 years old, and 17.5 percent were 65 years or older.

• Among all adults earning $25,000 or less in 2023, 29.6 percent were currently smoking compared to 8.9 percent of adults earning $50,000 or more.

• Among all smoking adults in Oklahoma in 2023, 68.8 percent were White, 11.6 percent were American Indian/Alaska Native, 9.7 percent were Hispanic, 7.8 percent were Black, 1.2 percent were Multiracial, and 0.9 percent were Asian.

• In 2023, 348,856 Oklahoma adults (11.3 percent) were currently using e-cigarettes. This is a 2.7 percent increase from 2022 and represents 12,943 additional adults vaping.

• Among all vaping adults in Oklahoma in 2023, 34.5 percent were 18 to 24 years old, 48.3 percent were 25 to 44 years old, 13.7 percent were 45 to 64 years old and 3.5 percent were 65 years or older.

• In 2023, for every one Oklahoma high school student who was smoking, more than 54 adults were currently using cigarettes.

• In 2023, for every one Oklahoma 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 2023, smoking rates among Oklahoma adults aged 18 to 24 years old decreased by 69.3 percent.

• E-cigarette use has decreased among Oklahoma young adults. Between 2022 and 2023, e-cigarette use among 18- to 24-year-olds decreased by 13 percent.

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

• Among Oklahoma adults earning $25,000 or less, smoking rates decreased on average by 0.5 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 3.3 times more likely to smoke than high income earners.

• In 2023, among Oklahoma adults who did not graduate high school, 30 percent were currently smoking, while only 5.8 percent of college graduates were smoking.

• In 2023, adults lacking a high school diploma were 5.2 times more likely to smoke than college graduates.

• Oklahoma 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 $0.08 on tobacco control efforts.