Smoking Cessation

The proportion of people who have quit smoking among those who ever smoked (called quit ratio) among US adults reached an all-time high of 62% in 2022. Still, disparities in smoking cessation exist by both region and by age.

Quit ratios are highest in Utah (71%), Hawaii (69%), New Hampshire (69%), and Washington (69%) and lowest in West Virginia (52%), Puerto Rico (53%), Mississippi (55%), and Ohio (56%).2 Recent successful smoking cessation was highest in Utah (11%), Nevada (10%), and Illinois (8%), Rhode Island (8%), and Washington (8%) but lowest in Mississippi (3%), Arkansas (4%), Indiana (4%), Ohio (4%), and Oklahoma (4%).¹

Though interest in quitting cigarette smoking in all states is greater than two-thirds of those individuals surveyed, prevalence of use of cessation counseling and/or medications to quit by state in 2019 was 50% or below, and particularly low in the South and Midwest (Maps 1.5.1 and 1.5.2). Individuals living in the Northeastern and Western regions of the US tend to have higher past-year quit attempts than those individuals living in the Southern and Midwestern regions (Map 1.5.3).²

Quitting at any age is beneficial to one’s overall health, but the benefits are greatest when quitting occurs at a younger age.2 In 2022, past year quit attempts were both lower among those 45-64 (47%) and 65+ (49%) and less successful among those two age groups (both at 6%) than their younger counterparts (Figure 1.5.4). Apparently, older groups with the greatest risk of developing health conditions were among those with the lowest quit attempts and least successful quitting.