--- title: Smoking Map: County By County Guide to Adult Cigarette Use description: As New Orleans bans smoking in bars, see where in America people light up the most canonical: https://time.com/3832031/smoking-map/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-22T22:04:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-30T11:45:58.756Z article:section: Health og:title: This Map Shows Where in America People Smoke Most og:description: New Orleans bans smoking in bars og:url: https://time.com/3832031/smoking-map/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Map Shows Where in America People Smoke Most twitter:description: New Orleans bans smoking in bars twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # The United States of Smoking by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/) and [Chris Wilson](https://time.com/author/chris-wilson/) Apr 22, 2015 10:04 PM UTC by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/) and [Chris Wilson](https://time.com/author/chris-wilson/) Apr 22, 2015 10:04 PM UTC At 12:01 am, Wednesday morning, it became [illegal to light up a cigarette](http://time.com/3832031/smoking-map/) in a bar in New Orleans, a city famed for its nightlife. Orleans Parish, where New Orleans is located, had an adult smoking rate of 19.9 percent in 2012, the most recent year for which nationwide data is available. The median rate for all counties was 20.8 percent, according to [CountyHealthRankings.org](http://countyhealthrankings.org/), which is published by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. The tables below show the counties with the highest percentage of adult smokers and those with the lowest percentage of smokers in the United States for which numbers are available. | **Counties With Highest Percentage of Smokers in 2012** | | | ------------------------------------------------------- | ---- | | Scott, Tennessee | 51.1 | | Limestone, Texas | 49.2 | | Northwest Arctic, Alaska | 48.2 | | Ripley, Missouri | 47.1 | | Upshur, Texas | 46.8 | | Calhoun, West Virginia | 46.2 | | Greene, Illinois | 45.7 | | Menominee, Wisconsin | 45.6 | | North Slope, Alaska | 45.3 | | Gallatin, Kentucky | 45.1 | | **Counties With Lowest Percentage of Smokers in 2012** | | | Madison, Idaho | 3.1 | | Cache, Utah | 4.6 | | Utah, Utah | 5.4 | | Davis, Utah | 6.3 | | Nicollet, Minnesota | 6.6 | | Summit, Utah | 7.5 | | York, Virginia | 7.5 | | Wasatch, Utah | 7.8 | | Washington, Utah | 7.8 | | Montgomery, Maryland | 7.9 | _Read next:_ [_New Orleans Smoking Ban Takes Effect_](http://time.com/3831105/new-orleans-smoking-ban-takes-effect/?iid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/autoplay/?xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3832031/smoking-map/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3832031/smoking-map/"},"headline":"The United States of Smoking","datePublished":"2015-04-22T22:04:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-30T11:45:58.756Z","description":"As New Orleans bans smoking in bars, see where in America people light up the most","url":"https://time.com/3832031/smoking-map/","keywords":["Smoking"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Chris Wilson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/chris-wilson/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"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/smoking/","name":"Smoking"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3832031/smoking-map/","name":"The United States of Smoking"}}]}] ```