Smoking and vaping continued to decline among middle school and high school students in 2025, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s 2025 National Youth Tobacco Survey, released in July 2026. This annual, school-based survey has been tracking smoking and other nicotine product use in American youth ages 11 to 18 since 1999.
Perhaps most excitingly, the survey found that smoking – the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the U.S. and worldwide – is at a historic low among U.S. youth, at just 1.4%. By contrast, in 1997 – when smoking rates in U.S. youth were the highest ever recorded, 36% of U.S. high school students reported currently smoking, and 70% reported having tried smoking at least once.
