In 2022, an estimated 1.5 million adults (14.9 percent) were currently smoking. This is a 3.5 percent increase from 2021 and represents 60,017 additional adults smoking.

Among all smoking adults in Pennsylvania in 2022, 5.8 percent were 18 to 24 years old, 40.7 percent were 25 to 44 years old, 38.8 percent were 45 to 64 years old, and 14.6 percent were 65 years or older.

Among all adults earning $25,000 or less in 2022, 26.7 percent were currently smoking compared to only 9.9 percent of adults earning $50,000 or more.

Among all smoking adults in Pennsylvania in 2022, 72.3 percent were White, 13.6 percent were Black, nine percent were Hispanic, 2.6 percent were Multiracial (non-Hispanic), and 2.5 percent were Asian.

In 2022, 765,718 Pennsylvania adults (7.4 percent) were currently using e-cigarettes. This a 21.3 percent increase from 2021 and represents 138,025 additional adults vaping.

Among all vaping adults in Pennsylvania in 2022, 31.3 percent were 18 to 24 years old, 45.2 percent were 25 to 44 years old, 17.7 percent were 45 to 64 years old and 5.8 percent were 65 years or older.

In 2021, for every one Pennsylvania high school student who was smoking, more than 64 adults were currently using cigarettes.

In 2021, for every one Pennsylvania high school student who was vaping, more than five adults were currently using e-cigarettes.

Between 2007 and 2022, smoking rates among Pennsylvania adults aged 18 to 24 years old decreased by 70.9 percent.

E-cigarette use has remained stable among Pennsylvania young adults. Between 2021 and 2022, e-cigarette use among 18- to 24-year-olds increased by 7.3 percent.

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

Among Pennsylvania adults earning $25,000 or less, smoking rates decreased on average by 0.8 percent annually between 2002 and 2022, while rates among adults earning $50,000 or more decreased by 2.5 percent during the same period.

In 2022, low-income adults were 2.7 times more likely to smoke than high income earners.

In 2022, among Pennsylvania adults who did not graduate high school, 33.5 percent were currently smoking, while only 6.6 percent of college graduates were smoking.

In 2022, adults lacking a high school diploma were 5.1 times more likely to smoke than college graduates.

Pennsylvania 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 for every $1 the state received in tobacco monies, it spent only $0.01 on tobacco control efforts.