Roughly one in twenty U.S. middle and high school students currently vapes, while about one in four young adults aged 18 to 24 has tried an e-cigarette at least once. Those two figures frame the Gen Z vaping picture, but they tell very different stories depending on whether you look at minors still in school or the older half of the generation already in college or the workforce. The reality is messier than a single percentage can capture, shaped by product design, social media, peer networks, and mental health in ways that keep shifting year to year.
The Numbers for Teens Still in School
The most authoritative snapshot of underage vaping in the United States comes from the National Youth Tobacco Survey, a large federal survey of students in grades 6 through 12. The 2025 edition found that about 2 million students, or roughly 5.2% of all middle and high schoolers, reported current e-cigarette use. That same survey put overall tobacco product use (including cigarettes, cigars, and nicotine pouches alongside vapes) at 7.2%, meaning e-cigarettes account for the majority of youth tobacco exposure.1PubMed. Tobacco product use among middle and high school students in the United States: National Youth Tobacco Survey, 2025
A 5% current-use rate might sound modest compared to the alarming headlines of a few years ago, and it is lower than peak levels recorded around 2019, when nearly 28% of high school students reported past-30-day e-cigarette use. The decline owes partly to regulatory crackdowns on flavored pod devices and Tobacco 21 laws. But 5% still translates to roughly two million kids, and the numbers do not capture occasional or experimental use that falls outside a strict 30-day window.
The Numbers for Young Adults
Older Gen Zers, those roughly 18 to 27 in 2025, show considerably higher rates. Survey data indicate that about 25.8% of U.S. young adults between 18 and 24 report having used an e-cigarette at least once, making them the single largest consumer group for vaping products in the country. Among college students aged 19 to 22, current use tripled between 2017 and 2020, climbing from 6% to roughly 18.6%.2PubMed Central. Young Adults’ Electronic Cigarette Use and Perceptions of Risk
The gap between “ever use” and “current use” matters. A quarter of young adults having tried vaping does not mean a quarter vape regularly. But among those who do vape in a given month, the habit tends to be frequent. In 2022, past-30-day vapers in the U.S. reported using their devices on an average of 17 out of 30 days, a number that had climbed steeply from about 9.5 days in 2017.3PubMed Central. Comparison of Indicators of Dependence for Vaping and Smoking: Trends Between 2017 and 2022 Among Youth in Canada, England, and the United States In other words, the people who vape are vaping more often than they used to, which signals deepening dependence even if the total percentage of users has leveled off or dipped.
Gender Differences and Who Vapes Most
Among adolescents, boys have historically vaped at slightly higher rates than girls. A review of studies measuring gender differences found that every study reporting a statistically significant gap showed higher use among boys.4PubMed Central. Gender Differences in U.S. Adolescent E-Cigarette Use That said, the gap is not enormous, and several studies found no meaningful difference at all. Current-use rates in the reviewed literature ranged widely for both sexes, from under 2% to over 16%, depending on the population surveyed and the year. The practical takeaway is that vaping is not a “boys’ problem” or a “girls’ problem” in the way some parents assume. Both groups are exposed to similar social pressures and product availability.
Why Flavors Keep Pulling Young People In
Flavors are one of the most consistent predictors of who starts vaping and who keeps going. Among young adults aged 18 to 24, flavor was a primary reason for picking up an e-cigarette for about 30% of respondents, with fruit flavors standing out as especially appealing to that age group compared with older adults.5PubMed Central. The role of flavors in vaping initiation and satisfaction among U.S. adults The numbers are even more striking for teenagers: research on Texas youth found that 98% of school-age vapers said their first e-cigarette was flavored with something other than tobacco, compared to about 44% of older adults nationally.6Preventive Medicine Reports. Flavored e-cigarette use: Characterizing youth, young adult, and adult users
Flavors do not just attract first-time users; they appear to deepen the habit. Adolescents who vaped nontraditional flavors (think mango, cotton candy, or gummy bear) were more likely to still be vaping six months later and took more puffs per session than those who used tobacco-flavored or unflavored products.7Pediatrics. Flavored E-cigarette Use and Progression of Vaping in Adolescents This is why flavor bans remain a central policy debate, and why the industry keeps cycling through new flavor categories as regulators try to catch up.
How Products Evolved After the Juul Crackdown
The vaping landscape Gen Z encounters today looks different from the one that made headlines in 2018 and 2019. Back then, Juul dominated the youth market with sleek, USB-shaped pods. After the FDA cracked down on flavored pod-based devices, disposable e-cigarettes surged to fill the gap.8PubMed Central. Beyond Juul: The New Face of Underage Nicotine Addiction – A Survey of College Students Brands like Elf Bar, Lost Mary, and others introduced cheap, brightly colored, single-use devices loaded with nicotine salt formulations that deliver high concentrations of nicotine smoothly enough that new users barely cough. A cross-national study tracking youth in Canada, England, and the U.S. confirmed the shift toward disposable, nicotine-salt-based products between 2017 and 2022.9Tobacco Control. Trends in vaping and nicotine product use among youth in Canada, England and the USA between 2017 and 2022: evidence to inform policy
This matters because disposable devices are harder to regulate. They enter the market quickly, often without FDA authorization, and disappear before enforcement catches up. For young users, the low upfront cost and no-maintenance design lower the barrier to entry even further.
The Role of Social Media and Peer Influence
If flavors are the bait, social media and friends are the delivery system. Adolescents who used TikTok several times a day had roughly triple the odds of current e-cigarette use compared to peers who used the app less frequently or not at all. Seeing tobacco or nicotine-related content on TikTok at least weekly was similarly associated with higher odds of both ever-use and current use.10PubMed Central. Frequency of social media use and exposure to tobacco or nicotine-related content in association with E-cigarette use among youth A scoping review of studies across English-speaking countries found that commercial promotion of e-cigarettes on social networking sites, including celebrity endorsements and appealing e-liquid imagery, was consistently linked to more favorable attitudes toward vaping among young people.11PubMed Central. The commercial promotion of electronic cigarettes on social media and its influence on positive perceptions of vaping and vaping behaviours in Anglophone countries
Offline, friends remain the dominant channel. In one survey, 60% of teen vapers said a friend was the source of their first vaping product, and 54% tried it for the first time while hanging out with friends. The odds of friends being the source roughly doubled for teens who had also seen e-cigarette ads on social media, suggesting that online marketing primes the interest and in-person friendships close the deal.12PubMed Central. The Influence of Friends on Teen Vaping: A Mixed-Methods Approach
Longitudinal research confirms that this is not just correlation. Having friends who vape predicts individual vaping initiation over time, and selecting new friends who already vape also raises the likelihood of picking up the habit. Both of these effects, social influence and social selection, were observed even among kids younger than 14.13PubMed Central. Social Network Influences on Adolescent E-cigarette Use Separate network-based research looking at ethnically diverse adolescent cohorts found that exposure to friends who vape and pro-vaping social norms each independently pushed teens toward trying e-cigarettes.14Nicotine & Tobacco Research. Network Dynamics of Social Influence on E-cigarette Use Among an Ethnically Diverse Adolescent Cohort
Mental Health and Vaping as Self-Medication
Gen Z reports higher rates of anxiety and depression than previous generations did at the same ages, and there is growing evidence that mental health struggles feed into vaping. Among young adults who currently vape, higher levels of stress, anxiety, and depression are each significantly associated with vaping specifically for tension reduction or relaxation.15PubMed Central. Association of vaping reasons with stress, anxiety, and depression among young adults who currently vape The pattern is visible in younger teens too: among middle and high school students with moderate-to-severe symptoms of depression or anxiety, feeling stressed, anxious, or depressed was the leading reason they gave for continuing to vape, whereas curiosity and social influences dominated among students with milder or no symptoms.16Preventing Chronic Disease. E-Cigarette Use and Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety Among US Middle and High School Students
This creates a tricky cycle. Nicotine provides a brief mood lift followed by withdrawal that worsens the very feelings the user was trying to escape. Young people who start vaping to manage anxiety can end up more nicotine-dependent and no less anxious, with the added stress of wanting to quit a habit they now rely on emotionally.
What Vaping Does to Young Bodies
The long-term health picture for e-cigarettes is still taking shape because the products have not been around long enough for decades-long follow-up studies. But the short- and medium-term data are not encouraging. A systematic review of youth vaping found associations with asthma flare-ups, bronchitis, chest pain, chronic cough, headaches, and insomnia.17PubMed Central. Global youth vaping and respiratory health: epidemiology, interventions, and policies A meta-analysis pooling multiple studies found that e-cigarette use was associated with roughly 30% higher odds of having asthma among adolescents, with both current and past use showing the link.18PubMed. Association Between E-Cigarettes and Asthma in Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
A prospective study following young people over time reported that past-30-day e-cigarette users had about twice the odds of bronchitic symptoms and roughly 80% higher odds of wheezing compared with never-users, even after accounting for cigarette smoking and cannabis use.19Thorax. Prospective study of e-cigarette use and respiratory symptoms in adolescents and young adults These findings matter because they suggest vaping carries its own respiratory risks, separate from whatever someone might be smoking alongside it.
The adolescent brain is another concern. It continues developing into the mid-twenties, and nicotine exposure during this window can alter the development of circuits involved in attention, learning, and impulse control.20PubMed Central. Nicotine and the adolescent brain That risk is not unique to vaping; any nicotine source can do it. But because e-cigarettes deliver nicotine so efficiently and in such palatable forms, they have become the primary vehicle for adolescent nicotine exposure in the U.S.
Cannabis Vaping Overlaps With Nicotine Vaping
Gen Z’s relationship with vaping is not limited to nicotine. Cannabis vaping has grown sharply in parallel. Among 12th graders, about 12.4% reported past-month cannabis vaping in 2021, and among young adults aged 19 to 20, the rate was roughly 13.6%. Past-month cannabis vaping rates doubled among U.S. young adults between 2017 and 2021.21PubMed Central. Old Dog, New Tricks: A Review of Identifying and Addressing Youth Cannabis Vaping in the Pediatric Clinical Setting Many young vapers use both substances: among young adults who currently vape nicotine, over half also reported using cannabis in the past month.22Tobacco Prevention & Cessation. Reactions to vaping cessation messaging and strategies among US young adults who use e-cigarettes This poly-use pattern complicates both health assessments and cessation efforts, because quitting one substance while continuing the other keeps the hand-to-mouth habit and the social rituals alive.
Do Policies Actually Reduce Youth Vaping?
The two most prominent policy tools aimed at youth vaping in the U.S. have been Tobacco 21 laws, which raised the legal purchase age from 18 to 21, and flavor restrictions at the state level. The results so far are mixed at best. A recent analysis found no association between state-level flavor restrictions and youth e-cigarette use. Tobacco 21 laws showed no reduction in vaping either; in fact, they were associated with a slight increase in the number of days per month adolescents used e-cigarettes. Only “strong” versions of T21 laws, those with comprehensive enforcement components, were linked to lower cigarette use, and even those showed no benefit for vaping specifically.23PubMed Central. How adolescent tobacco use has responded to state tobacco 21 laws and flavor restrictions
These findings do not mean regulation is pointless. They suggest that the patchwork of state-level rules, often without meaningful penalties or enforcement mechanisms, has not been strong enough to overcome the ease of access young people already enjoy. Social sources (friends, older peers) bypass age restrictions entirely, and the flood of unauthorized disposable devices makes flavor bans difficult to enforce at the retail level.
How Hard Is It for Young Vapers to Quit?
Quitting is something many young vapers say they want but struggle to do. Among young adults surveyed about e-cigarette cessation, about 44% had attempted to quit in the past year, and roughly 55% expressed readiness to quit.22Tobacco Prevention & Cessation. Reactions to vaping cessation messaging and strategies among US young adults who use e-cigarettes That gap between intention and success echoes the broader pattern seen with all nicotine products: withdrawal symptoms, habit triggers, and social environments make relapse common.
The challenge is compounded by the fact that most nicotine-replacement therapies and cessation programs were designed with adult cigarette smokers in mind. There is no FDA-approved cessation medication specifically for adolescent e-cigarette users. Text-based programs like “This is Quitting,” developed by the Truth Initiative, have shown some promise, but the evidence base is still thin compared to what exists for adult smoking cessation. For a generation that started on a product delivering high-concentration nicotine salts, weaning off is not a simple downward taper.
Vaping Frequency Is Going Up Even as Headlines Suggest the Crisis Is Over
One of the more underappreciated trends is the rising intensity of use among those who continue to vape. Between 2017 and 2022, the average number of days per month that youth vapers reported using their devices jumped by about seven days across the U.S., Canada, and England alike.3PubMed Central. Comparison of Indicators of Dependence for Vaping and Smoking: Trends Between 2017 and 2022 Among Youth in Canada, England, and the United States By 2022, the average U.S. youth vaper was using their device on 17 out of 30 days, more than every other day. That kind of frequency is consistent with established nicotine dependence, not casual experimentation.
This means the decline in overall prevalence rates since 2019 can be misleading. Fewer students may be trying vaping, but the ones who do try it are sticking with it harder and using it more often. The public health risk has shifted from a breadth problem (how many kids are trying it) toward a depth problem (how dependent are the ones who continue). Both deserve attention, but the depth problem gets far less media coverage because the headline number, the percentage who currently vape, has gone down.