--- title: U.S. Smoking Rate Hits Historic Low description: The CDC found that cigarette smoking among American adults has hit an all-time low, dropping from 20.9% in 2005 to 17.8% in 2013 canonical: https://time.com/3608018/u-s-smoking-rate-low/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-26T19:25:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T02:24:59.792Z article:section: Health og:title: U.S. Smoking Rate Hits Historic Low og:description: The CDC found that cigarette smoking among American adults has hit an all-time low, dropping from 20.9% in 2005 to 17.8% in 2013 og:url: https://time.com/3608018/u-s-smoking-rate-low/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd34a0eaef73f0663/69876b52f887dc4638e88a3f/186025671-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4822 og:image:height: 2712 og:image:alt: 186025671 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: U.S. Smoking Rate Hits Historic Low twitter:description: The CDC found that cigarette smoking among American adults has hit an all-time low, dropping from 20.9% in 2005 to 17.8% in 2013 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd34a0eaef73f0663/69876b52f887dc4638e88a3f/186025671-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # U.S. Smoking Rate Hits Historic Low > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Nov 26, 2014 7:25 PM UTC  Stubbed out cigarette butt Stubbed out cigarette butt Getty Images by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Nov 26, 2014 7:25 PM UTC Cigarette smoking among American adults has hit at an all-time low, health officials said Wednesday. The percentage of smokers over the age of 18 dropped from 20.9% in 2005 to 17.8% in 2013, according to [a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report](http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6347a4.htm?s%5Fcid=mm6347a4%5Fw). That’s the lowest rate of smoking adults since the CDC started tracking the numbers via its National Health Interview Survey in 1965\. Over the course of eight years, the number of U.S. smokers dropped from 45.1 million to 42.1 million, the report reveals. Still, the CDC worries too many Americans still smoke, and a Nov. 13 [report](http://time.com/3583375/young-smokers-put-millions-at-risk-cdc-says/) from the agency showed that a high number of young people still smoke, putting millions at risk for premature death. The good news for health officials is that people seem to be cutting back, if not quitting. The number of people who smoke every day has dropped nearly 4% from 2005 to 2013, and the proportion of smokers who smoke only some days has increased. Of course, smoking less habitually still poses tremendous danger for the health. “Though smokers are smoking fewer cigarettes, cutting back by a few cigarettes a day rather than quitting completely does not produce significant health benefits,” said Brian King, a senior scientific adviser with the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, in a statement. Cigarette smoking continues to be the leading cause of preventable death among Americans, reportedly racks up $289 billion a year in medical costs and productivity loss. Around 70% of all cigarette smokers want to kick the habit, and if a smoker quits by the time they turn 40, they can gain almost all of the 10 years of life expectancy they lose by smoking. Americans who want to quit smoking can call 1-800-QUIT-NOW for free counseling and resources, or visit the CDC’s antismoking tips site [here](http://www.cdc.gov/tips). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3608018/u-s-smoking-rate-low/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3608018/u-s-smoking-rate-low/"},"headline":"U.S. Smoking Rate Hits Historic Low","datePublished":"2014-11-26T19:25:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:24:59.792Z","description":"And the number of people who say they smoke every day has dropped, too","url":"https://time.com/3608018/u-s-smoking-rate-low/","keywords":["Cancer","Smoking","Cigarettes","tobacco","CDC"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd34a0eaef73f0663/69876b52f887dc4638e88a3f/186025671-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd34a0eaef73f0663/69876b52f887dc4638e88a3f/186025671-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"186025671","caption":"186025671","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/cancer/","name":"Cancer"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3608018/u-s-smoking-rate-low/","name":"U.S. Smoking Rate Hits Historic Low"}}]}] ```