Teen vaping statistics at a glance
Teen vaping has shifted from a rapid-growth phase into a lower-prevalence but still highly active pattern of use.
The latest numbers show fewer students using e-cigarettes overall, but the remaining user base is more concentrated, more frequent, and still strongly drawn to flavored disposable products (CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth; CDC Youth and Tobacco Use).
Fast facts
- In 2024, 1.63 million U.S. middle and high school students, or 5.9%, currently used e-cigarettes (CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth).
- In 2024, 1.21 million high school students, or 7.8%, currently used e-cigarettes (CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth).
- In 2024, 410,000 middle school students, or 3.5%, currently used e-cigarettes (CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth).
- In 2024, e-cigarettes remained the most commonly used tobacco product among U.S. youth (CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth).
- In 2024, nicotine pouches were the second most commonly used tobacco product among U.S. youth (CDC Youth Tobacco Product Use at a 25-Year Low).
Contents
- How youth vaping changed from 2018 to 2024
- Current use in 2024
- What devices teens use
- Use frequency and dependence signals
- Who is most likely to use e-cigarettes
- How vaping compares with other tobacco products
- What the trend line means for readers tracking teen vaping
How youth vaping changed from 2018 to 2024
The long trend matters because it shows both the size of the peak and the scale of the recent decline.
In 2018, current e-cigarette use reached 20.8% among high school students and 4.9% among middle school students (CDC 2011-2018 NYTS MMWR). By 2019, the rate was still very high, with 27.5% of high school students and 10.5% of middle school students reporting use in the past 30 days (CDC 2019 NYTS MMWR).
The 2024 numbers are much lower. Current use fell to 7.8% among high school students and 3.5% among middle school students, for a combined 5.9% of U.S. middle and high school students (CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth).
That means teen vaping did not disappear. It moved from a peak-period spike to a still-large, still-meaningful baseline.
Current youth e-cigarette use was approximately one-third of its 2019 peak of more than five million youth in 2024 (FDA Youth E-Cigarette Use Drops to Lowest Level in a Decade).
The most recent drop also matters because it was not just a one-year rounding error. From 2023 to 2024, the number of current youth e-cigarette users fell from 2.13 million students to 1.63 million students, and prevalence fell from 7.7% to 5.9% (CDC/FDA NYTS 2024).
A compact comparison table
| Year | High school current use | Middle school current use | Notable takeaway |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 20.8% | 4.9% | Rapid surge already underway (CDC 2011-2018 NYTS MMWR) |
| 2019 | 27.5% | 10.5% | Peak-period levels for many teens (CDC 2019 NYTS MMWR) |
| 2020 | 19.6% | 4.7% | Sharp retreat from the peak (CDC 2020 youth e-cigarette release) |
| 2021 | 11.3% | 2.8% | Continued decline, especially in middle school (CDC 2021 NYTS MMWR) |
| 2024 | 7.8% | 3.5% | Lower overall prevalence, but vaping remains common (CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth) |
Current use in 2024
The 2024 snapshot shows a distinctly uneven pattern between school levels and user groups.
High school students had a current use rate of 7.8%, compared with 3.5% among middle school students (CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth). In simple terms, older students were more than twice as likely to currently use e-cigarettes.
That difference also appears in the practical counts. There were 1.21 million current high school users and 410,000 current middle school users in 2024 (CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth).
Some benchmark comparisons help make the scale easier to read:
- 1 of every 13 high school students reported current e-cigarette use in 2024 (CDC Youth and Tobacco Use).
- 1 of every 29 middle school students reported current e-cigarette use in 2024 (CDC Youth and Tobacco Use).
- E-cigarettes were still the most commonly used tobacco product among U.S. youth in 2024 (CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth).
A useful way to interpret the pattern is that prevalence may be down from the peak, but the product is still embedded in the youth tobacco landscape.
What devices teens use
The device mix is one of the clearest signs that youth vaping is not a single behavior. It is a cluster of product preferences that lean heavily toward convenience and flavor.
Among current youth e-cigarette users in 2024, 55.6% used disposable e-cigarettes, 15.6% used prefilled or refillable pods or cartridges, and 7.0% used tanks or mod systems (CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth).
That ranking shows a steep drop-off after disposables.
Device share among current youth users, 2024
| Device type | Share of current youth e-cigarette users | Source label |
|---|---|---|
| Disposable e-cigarettes | 55.6% | CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth |
| Prefilled or refillable pods or cartridges | 15.6% | CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth |
| Tanks or mod systems | 7.0% | CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth |
The same pattern shows up in sales data. In June 2024, 58.1% of all U.S. e-cigarette unit sales were disposable devices, and 12.3 million units sold were disposable devices (CDC About E-Cigarettes). In the same month, 80.6% of e-cigarette sales were for non-tobacco flavors such as menthol, mint, or other flavors, representing 17.0 million units sold (CDC About E-Cigarettes).
Taken together, those figures show two things:
- Disposables dominate youth use and market sales.
- Flavor remains a major part of the product mix.
The flavored-product numbers are especially strong. In 2024, 87.6% of current youth e-cigarette users used flavored e-cigarettes (CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth). Among students who used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days, flavored use was 88.2% for high school students and 85.7% for middle school students (CDC Youth and Tobacco Use).
Use frequency and dependence signals
The important question is not only whether teens vape, but how often they do it.
In 2024, 38.4% of current youth e-cigarette users used an e-cigarette on at least 20 of the last 30 days, and 26.3% used an e-cigarette every day (CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth).
That is a strong signal that many users are not occasional experimenters.
Frequency indicators in 2024
- 38.4% of current youth e-cigarette users used an e-cigarette on at least 20 of the last 30 days (CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth).
- 26.3% of current youth e-cigarette users used an e-cigarette every day (CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth).
- 63.9% of youth e-cigarette users said they wanted to quit (CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth).
- 67.4% of youth e-cigarette users reported trying to quit in the last year (CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth).
The quit-related numbers are important because they point to mixed behavior rather than simple preference. A majority of users said they wanted to quit, and an even larger share had tried to quit in the last year (CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth).
There is also a history of frequent use behind the headline numbers. In 2019, 30.4% of current youth e-cigarette users were frequent users, meaning use on 20 or more of the past 30 days, and that represented 1.6 million current youth users (CDC 2019 NYTS MMWR).
Earlier years showed similar or rising intensity among existing users. In 2021, 43.6% of current high school e-cigarette users used e-cigarettes on 20 or more of the past 30 days, while 17.2% of current middle school users did the same (CDC 2021 NYTS MMWR). Daily use in 2021 was 27.6% among current high school users and 8.3% among current middle school users (CDC 2021 NYTS MMWR).
That pattern matters because prevalence alone can hide intensity. Two years can have similar user counts, but very different dependence profiles.
Who is most likely to use e-cigarettes
Youth vaping prevalence is not evenly distributed across student groups.
In 2024, non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native students had the highest current e-cigarette use at 11.5% (CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth). Non-Hispanic Black or African American students had 7.0%, non-Hispanic multiracial students had 6.6%, Hispanic or Latino students had 6.1%, non-Hispanic White students had 5.9%, and non-Hispanic Asian students had 2.3% (CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth).
Current e-cigarette use by student group, 2024
| Student group | Current use | Source label |
|---|---|---|
| Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native | 11.5% | CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth |
| Non-Hispanic Black or African American | 7.0% | CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth |
| Non-Hispanic multiracial | 6.6% | CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth |
| Hispanic or Latino | 6.1% | CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth |
| Non-Hispanic White | 5.9% | CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth |
| Non-Hispanic Asian | 2.3% | CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth |
The differences are not small. The highest group was nearly five times the lowest group in 2024.
Gender also matters. In 2024, more female than male students reported current e-cigarette use (CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth).
The data does not explain why those differences exist, but it does show that teen vaping is shaped by more than simple age or grade level.
How vaping compares with other tobacco products
One of the clearest current shifts is that e-cigarettes are still the dominant youth product, but they are no longer the only product drawing meaningful use.
In 2024, nicotine pouches were used by 1.8% of U.S. middle and high school students and were the second most commonly used tobacco product among U.S. youth (CDC Youth and Tobacco Use; CDC Youth Tobacco Product Use at a 25-Year Low).
That is a relatively small share compared with e-cigarettes, but it is large enough to matter in the overall youth tobacco mix.
The benchmark rates are useful here:
- 1.0% of middle school students reported nicotine pouch use in the past 30 days (CDC Youth and Tobacco Use).
- 2.4% of high school students reported nicotine pouch use in the past 30 days (CDC Youth and Tobacco Use).
- 1 of every 48 middle school students reported current use of multiple tobacco products (CDC Youth and Tobacco Use).
- 1 of every 27 high school students reported current use of multiple tobacco products (CDC Youth and Tobacco Use).
Multiple-product use is another sign that youth tobacco behavior can spread across categories rather than stay confined to one product. In 2024, 38.9% of middle school students who currently used a tobacco product used more than one type of product, and 36.6% of high school students who currently used a tobacco product did the same (CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth).
Flavor shows up here as well. In 2024, 86.1% of high school students who used nicotine pouches in the past 30 days reported flavored pouches, and 85.4% of middle school students who used nicotine pouches in the past 30 days reported flavored pouches (CDC Youth and Tobacco Use).
The broader flavor pattern is visible across products. In 2018, 65.2% of current youth tobacco users reported flavored e-cigarette use, and 26.5% of current youth users of pipe tobacco reported flavored product use (CDC Flavored Tobacco Product Use Among Middle and High School Students).
What the trend line means for readers tracking teen vaping
The best single reading of the data is this: teen vaping is lower than it was at the peak, but it remains widespread enough to matter, and the remaining use is often flavored, disposable, and frequent.
Several features stand out across the full dataset:
- The overall prevalence dropped from the peak years to 5.9% in 2024 among middle and high school students combined (CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth).
- High school students still vape at a much higher rate than middle school students, with 7.8% versus 3.5% in 2024 (CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth).
- Disposable devices dominate both youth use and sales, with 55.6% of current youth users and 58.1% of June 2024 unit sales tied to disposables (CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth; CDC About E-Cigarettes).
- Flavor remains deeply embedded, with 87.6% of current youth users reporting flavored e-cigarettes in 2024 (CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth).
- A sizable share of current users show high-frequency behavior, including 26.3% who used daily and 38.4% who used on at least 20 of the past 30 days (CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth).
For anyone comparing the numbers over time, the key point is not simply that teen vaping is down. It is that the market and the behavior have adapted into a lower-prevalence but still entrenched pattern.
The data also suggests a split between experimentation and persistence. Many teens who ever tried e-cigarettes did not continue, but among current users, a meaningful share is using frequently, wants to quit, and has tried to quit in the last year (CDC E-Cigarette Use Among Youth).
That mix makes teen vaping statistics more useful when read as a profile rather than a single headline figure.