Snapshot: About One in Four Young Adults Use Marijuana

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- While 13% of Americans say they "regularly" or "occasionally" use or smoke marijuana, the rate is significantly higher among the 18 to 29 age group and is higher in the West than in other regions of the country.

	Marijuana	Cigars	Chewing tobacco	A pipe
	%	%	%	%
National adults	13	9	5	4
Men	15	15	8	4
Women	11	3	1	2
18-29	24	8	7	6
30-49	13	11	5	3
50-64	11	11	3	3
65+	6	6	4	2
East	12	8	1	4
Midwest	10	8	8	2
South	11	9	5	4
West	20	9	3	1
Gallup, July 1-11, 2018

These data are from a July 1-11 Gallup poll, which also found that 9% of Americans regularly or occasionally vape and 20% regularly or occasionally smoke cigarettes.

Marijuana is most popular among 18- to 29-year-olds -- about one in four (24%) adults in this age group report regularly or occasionally using it. This is on par with an average 22% of 18- to 29-year-olds across three surveys from 2015 to 2017 who answered "yes" when asked whether they do, or do not, "smoke marijuana." In both the latest and previous questions on the topic, use of marijuana is progressively lower in each older age bracket. Meanwhile, one in five adults living in the West (20%), where all coastal states have legalized recreational marijuana, use marijuana regularly or occasionally, which is about twice as high as in the other three regions of the country.

Use of other products also varies across demographic groups.

Nine percent of Americans say they smoke cigars, a behavior that is much more common among men (15%) than among women (3%).

Few adults in the East (1%) or in the West (3%) use chewing tobacco, but the product is slightly more popular among Americans living in the South (5%) and the Midwest (8%). Meanwhile, just 1% of women say they use chewing tobacco.

Only 4% of American adults say they even occasionally smoke a pipe, and there is little meaningful variation in this behavior across demographic categories.