Youth Tobacco Use at Historic Lows

This week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released findings from the 2025 National Youth Tobacco Survey that show tobacco and nicotine use among U.S. middle and high school students has declined to historic lows.

Since 2022, tobacco and nicotine use has steadily declined among students. In 2025, 7.2% of all students (2.01 million) reported current use of tobacco products (one or more days in past 30 days) versus 11.3% (3.8 million) of all students in 2022.

In 2025, 2.6% of students (720,000) reported current use of cigarettes, versus 3.7% (1 million) in 2022.

Vape use is also down since 2022: 5.2% (1.44 million) of students in 2025 versus 9.4% of students (2.5 million) in 2022.

The survey also noted a slight drop in nicotine pouch use: 1.7% in 2025 versus 1.8% in 2024.

Age verification solutions like TruAge® are also helping convenience stores sell legal products responsibly and mitigate youth access to age-restricted products. Created by NACS and shaped by convenience retail, TruAge adapts as IDs, technology, regulations and customer expectations evolve. TruAge instantly verifies age, detects fake or expired IDs, and checks volume limits everywhere that age matters, online and in-person.

Adult Cigarette Use Continues to Decline

The smoking rate among adults in the United States has been declining for two decades, from 18.1% in 2014 to 11.7% in 2024.

The newly released NACS State of the Industry Report® of 2025 Data notes that monthly per store sales of cigarettes declined for the fifth straight year since a brief period of growth in 2020 and 2021.

The decline in cigarette sales has come as other in-store categories continue to grow. In 2025, packaged beverages became the top in-store merchandise category in c-stores, moving cigarettes to the second in-store contributor for the first time since NACS began tracking in-store sales.

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