--- title: Smoking Rates Have Fallen Again in the U.S. description: The rates stand at 17%. canonical: https://time.com/4018681/american-smoking-rate/ author: Tanya Basu article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-01T16:09:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:57:59.017Z article:section: Health og:title: Only 17% of Americans Smoke og:description: Some groups—Native Americans and LGBT people—have higher rates, though og:url: https://time.com/4018681/american-smoking-rate/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6c5cc47d2565c01e/698861dd196cf4aff6037d7b/smoking.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Smoking og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Only 17% of Americans Smoke twitter:description: Some groups—Native Americans and LGBT people—have higher rates, though twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6c5cc47d2565c01e/698861dd196cf4aff6037d7b/smoking.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # America's Smoking Rate Continues to Drop ## Video: The Ultras: Scott Jurek [Watch (HLS stream): The Ultras: Scott Jurek](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/WrhkemPE.m3u8) (2:33)  _Published 2015-04-17. Meet the man who won't stop running._  by [Tanya Basu](https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Sep 1, 2015 4:09 PM UTC  Smoking Woman Silhouette Smoking Woman SilhouetteStephan Geyer—Getty Images  by [Tanya Basu](https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Sep 1, 2015 4:09 PM UTC The smoking rate for American adults has continued to fall, according to a new [report](http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/campaign/tips/resources/data/cigarette-smoking-in-united-states.html). The national smoking rate stands at 17% this year, a drop from the 18% reported in 2013, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found. Smoking rates were actually even lower earlier this year, when they were hovering around 15%, but some say the lower number is attributable to New Year’s resolutions. Other demographic trends were released in the report. Multiracial people had the highest smoking rates, at 26.8%, with those of Native American ancestry close behind at 26.1%; experts believe that ceremonial use of tobacco affects Native American smoking rates. Men were more likely to smoke than women, as were those who identified as LGBT. More than 29% of smokers were below the poverty line. The CDC notes that smoking is “the single largest preventable cause of death and disease” in the U.S., with 480,000 deaths per year being traced to cigarettes. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4018681/american-smoking-rate/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4018681/american-smoking-rate/"},"headline":"America's Smoking Rate Continues to Drop","datePublished":"2015-09-01T16:09:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:57:59.017Z","description":"But there are some at-risk groups, including LGBT people and Native Americans","url":"https://time.com/4018681/american-smoking-rate/","keywords":["Research","Public Health","Smoking","Cigarettes","CDC"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6c5cc47d2565c01e/698861dd196cf4aff6037d7b/smoking.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tanya Basu","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6c5cc47d2565c01e/698861dd196cf4aff6037d7b/smoking.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Smoking","caption":"Smoking","creditText":"Stephan Geyer—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/research/","name":"Research"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4018681/american-smoking-rate/","name":"America's Smoking Rate Continues to Drop"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Ultras: Scott Jurek","description":"Meet the man who won't stop running.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/WrhkemPE/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-04-17T21:47:56.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/WrhkemPE.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4018681/american-smoking-rate/","duration":"PT2M33S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4018681/american-smoking-rate/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```