Youth Tobacco Use Stays Near Historic Lows 

The full analysis of the 2025 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) is in, and the big picture is clear: youth tobacco use in the U.S. remains close to historic lows. In 2025, 7.2% of middle and high school students reported current use of any tobacco product, while cigarette smoking stayed exceptionally low at 1.4%. 

That’s encouraging news, especially when compared with where youth tobacco use stood in 2000. Back then, current tobacco use was 34.5% among high school students and 15.1% among middle school students, with cigarette smoking the most common product category. The 2025 data show a very different landscape: smoking among teens is now rare, vaping continues to trend down, and nicotine pouch use remains low overall. 

About 2 million middle and high school students reported using at least one tobacco product in the past 30 days. That breaks down to 9.5% of high school students and 4.1% of middle school students.

The most commonly used products were e-cigarettes at 5.2%, nicotine pouches at 1.7%, and cigarettes at 1.4%. Use of multiple tobacco products was reported by 2.7% of students, while current use of any combusted tobacco product was 2.6%. 

The drop is striking when the latest FDA figures are set against the NYTS report from 2000. In 2000, more than one in three high school students reported current tobacco use. By 2025, that figure was under one in ten. 

Cigarette smoking shows an even clearer shift. In 2000, CDC reported current cigarette use at 28.0% among high school students and 11.0% among middle school students. In 2025, current cigarette smoking across middle and high school students combined was 1.4%. 

The long-term trend is moving in the right direction. FDA reported that overall youth tobacco use, combusted tobacco use, and e-cigarette use all declined from 2022 to 2025. Looking further back to 2000 makes the scale of change even clearer: youth tobacco use has fallen steeply among both middle and high school students. 

Cigarette smoking among youth remains especially low. At 1.4%, cigarettes are now behind both e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches in reported current use. That does not mean prevention work is finished, but it does show how dramatically the youth smoking landscape has changed. 

Nicotine pouches often get a lot of attention in media and policy discussions. In the 2025 NYTS, 1.7% of students reported current nicotine pouch use. FDA noted an increase among high school students over the longer 2022–2025 period, but overall youth pouch use stayed low and did not increase between 2024 and 2025. 

That context matters. Youth use of nicotine products is not acceptable, and strong age checks matter both online and in stores. But the conversation should also reflect the actual scale of use, especially when comparing nicotine pouches with other product categories included in the NYTS data. 

The 2025 NYTS results point to two priorities: keeping nicotine products out of the hands of youth and keeping adult smokers in the conversation. Cigarettes remain the leading cause of tobacco-related disease, so public health policy should continue to prevent youth use while also addressing the ongoing impact of adult cigarette smoking. 

Reported current tobacco and nicotine use among youth remains close to historic lows, and prevention efforts must continue. At the same time, the latest data show why the conversation should stay grounded in evidence, proportion, and the larger goal of reducing cigarette smoking.