Smokeless Tobacco Statistics 2026: Use, Risks, Quit Rates

Smokeless tobacco statistics in the United States show a small but persistent group of users: in the 2021 National Health Interview Survey, 2.1% of adults currently used smokeless tobacco, and 4.2% of men did, compared with 0.2% of women. Use is concentrated among men, in rural areas and in the Midwest, and about 1.2% of US students currently use it. This guide collects the figures from CDC and National Cancer Institute sources, notes exactly how each survey defines the products, and ends with what the best current evidence says about quitting dip, chew and snuff.

Smokeless tobacco statistics: about 2 in 100 US adults

The most recent national adult figure for any current smokeless tobacco use is from the 2021 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), reported by the CDC in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (see the MMWR on tobacco product use among adults, 2021). It estimated that 2.1% of US adults (95% confidence interval 1.9 to 2.4) were currently using smokeless tobacco, alongside cigarettes at 11.5%, e-cigarettes at 4.5% and cigars at 3.5%.

A second CDC report, a 2025 Notes from the Field in the same journal, tracks 2017 to 2023 and counts people who use only smokeless tobacco. It found 1.3% in 2017 and 1.4% in 2023 (see the MMWR Notes from the Field, 2017 to 2023). The two figures differ because the second one excludes people who use smokeless tobacco together with another product. Both define smokeless tobacco as chewing tobacco, snuff, dip, snus or dissolvable tobacco, which is useful to know before comparing with nicotine pouch statistics, because the surveys count pouches separately.

Adult use: who uses smokeless tobacco

The 2021 NHIS report breaks current smokeless use down by group. These are percentages of US adults in each group:

The pattern is clear: smokeless tobacco is overwhelmingly a male, rural and Midwestern habit in these data, and it is highest among adults with a GED certificate. These national surveys report regions rather than states, so for state-by-state cigarette numbers see smoking rates by state.

A 2026 narrative review in Public Health in Practice gives context for the rural pattern. Its authors write that smokeless tobacco use “remains disproportionately high in rural regions of the United States, particularly among youth, due to perceptions of lower risk compared with smoking” (Public Health in Practice, 2026). They list ease of access, lower taxation, reduced risk perception and cultural acceptance among the contributors, and note that interventions have often been limited by insufficient cultural tailoring. That is a synthesis of other studies rather than new data, so treat it as an explanation, not a measurement.

The 2017 to 2023 report adds the age pattern for exclusive smokeless use in 2023: 0.3% of adults aged 18 to 24, 1.5% of those aged 25 to 44, 2.0% of those aged 45 to 64 and 0.8% of those aged 65 and over. Use among the oldest and youngest adults is low, while it peaks in middle age.

Is smokeless use changing?

The 2025 CDC report is a useful reminder that smokeless use has barely moved while cigarette smoking fell. Exclusive cigarette smoking dropped from 10.8% to 7.9% between 2017 and 2023, exclusive e-cigarette use rose from 1.2% to 4.1%, and exclusive smokeless tobacco use stayed at 1.3% to 1.4% (the report’s statistical test found no significant trend). Overall current tobacco product use among adults was 19.3% in 2017 and 19.5% in 2023.

Translated into numbers of people, the report estimates about 3.37 million adults who used smokeless tobacco and no other tobacco product in 2023 (the table lists 33.7 in units of 100,000). That is a small group next to the roughly 19.8 million exclusive cigarette smokers, but it is not shrinking.

Youth use: students in 2024

The 2024 National Youth Tobacco Survey, reported by the CDC in the MMWR, found that among all US middle and high school students, e-cigarettes were the most commonly used tobacco product (5.9%), followed by nicotine pouches (1.8%), cigarettes (1.4%), cigars (1.2%) and smokeless tobacco (1.2%) (CDC, MMWR, October 2024). In that survey smokeless tobacco means chewing tobacco, snuff, dip or snus, and nicotine pouches are counted as a separate product, which is why this article keeps them apart.

The detailed table shows 1.5% of high school students and 0.8% of middle school students currently using smokeless tobacco, an estimated 330,000 students overall. For the parents’ view of young nicotine use, see our guides to youth vaping statistics and the age most smokers start.

Video: Mayo Clinic on smokeless tobacco

Mayo Clinic has a short video called “Mayo Clinic Minute: Snuffing Out Smokeless Tobacco” that fits this topic.

The health risks behind the numbers

The National Cancer Institute’s fact sheet on smokeless tobacco is direct: “Smokeless tobacco causes oral cancer, esophageal cancer, and pancreatic cancer.” It adds that using it “may also cause heart disease, gum disease, and oral lesions other than cancer, such as leukoplakia (precancerous white patches in the mouth)”. It reports that “At least 28 chemicals in smokeless tobacco have been found to cause cancer”, the most harmful being tobacco-specific nitrosamines (see the NCI smokeless tobacco fact sheet).

The fact sheet also tackles the idea that dip is a safer form of tobacco. It quotes a 1986 Surgeon General advisory committee conclusion that smokeless tobacco “is not a safe substitute for smoking cigarettes”, and states that “There is no safe level of tobacco use.” On addiction, it says users of smokeless tobacco and cigarettes have comparable levels of nicotine in the blood, and that nicotine stays in the blood longer in smokeless users than in smokers. For a head-to-head comparison, see whether chewing tobacco is worse than smoking and what snus is.

What the evidence says about quitting

The most current review is the Cochrane review “Interventions for smokeless tobacco use cessation” (Issue 4, April 2025). It included 43 randomized trials with 20,346 people and measured abstinence at six months or longer (see the Cochrane review abstract on PubMed). The pooled results were:

The authors conclude that cessation counseling, brief advice and varenicline each “probably help more people to quit smokeless tobacco use than minimal or no support, or placebo.” Varenicline is a prescription medicine, so ask a doctor or pharmacist whether it suits you. The NCI also says there is “no scientific evidence that using smokeless tobacco can help a person quit smoking”, so switching from cigarettes to dip is not a quit method. The NCI fact sheet lists a free quitline at 1-877-44U-QUIT (1-877-448-7848) for counseling.

If you are planning a dip quit, our dip quit plan walks through the first weeks.

What these statistics do not show

• Quit attempt rates. There is no current national figure for how many smokeless users try to quit each year, so this article does not quote one.
• State-level use. These national reports cover regions and rural versus urban, not states.
• Pouches. Nicotine pouches are reported separately by these surveys and are not included in the smokeless figures above.
• Different definitions. “Current use” (any use every day or some days) and “exclusive use” (smokeless only) are different measures, so 2.1% and 1.4% are not contradictory.

Using iQuit if you want to stop dipping

iQuit is a free app on Google Play and the App Store that helps with the habit side of quitting nicotine. You can log each craving with its trigger and intensity, use the SOS tools when an urge hits, and watch your smoke-free days and money saved in the dashboard. See our guide to an app to quit dip for how this fits a smokeless quit. iQuit does not replace counseling or medicine; the Cochrane evidence above is a good reason to add a quitline or clinician to your plan.

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