Education Level

Education Level

Smoking Prevalence

  • 2020 cigarette smoking prevalence was higher among those with a GED (32.0%) or high school diploma (17.6%), compared with those who have an undergraduate degree (5.6%) or graduate degree (3.5%)[i]
  • Past-30 day cigarette smoking prevalence decreased among 12th graders from 7.5% in 2020 to 4.1% in 2021[ii]
  • In 2019, cigarette smoking among non-college bound high school seniors was more than twice that of college-bound high school seniors (10.7% vs. 4.0%, respectively)[iii]

Smoking Cessation

  • According to data from 2015, quit attempts increase as education level rises, with 48.1% of adults who smoke with a GED making a quit attempt versus 57.6% of those with a college degree.[iv]
  • In addition, successful quit attempts also increase with higher levels of education – in 2015, 4.4% of adults who smoke with 12 years or less of education quit successfully compared to 11.2% of those with an undergraduate degree
 

[i] Cornelius ME, Loretan CG, Wang TW, Jamal A, Homa DM. Tobacco Product Use Among Adults — United States, 2020. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2022;71:397–405. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7111a1

[ii] Miech, R. A., Johnston, L. D., O’Malley, P. M., Bachman, J. G., Schulenberg, J. E., & Patrick, M. E. (2022). Monitoring the Future national survey results on drug use, 1975–2021: Volume I, Secondary school students. Ann Arbor: Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan. Available at http://monitoringthefuture.org/pubs.html#monographs

[iii] Johnston, L. D., Miech, R. A., O’Malley, P. M., Bachman, J. G., Schulenberg, J. E., & Patrick, M. E. (2020). Demographic subgroup trends among adolescents in the use of various licit and illicit drugs, 1975–2019 (Monitoring the Future Occasional Paper No. 94). Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan.

[iv] Babb S, Malarcher A, Schauer G, Asman K, Jamal A. Quitting Smoking Among Adults — United States, 2000–2015. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2017;65:1457–1464. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6552a1