25% of Residents in This State Smoke: Here’s Where New England Stands

I find this a bit surprising, but according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cigarette smoking is still the leading cause of preventable disease, disability, and death in the United States. One in every five deaths is because of it, which is around 480,000 annually.

I rarely see anyone smoking around New England, so it was a bit of a 'wow' moment for me. According to the CDC, there are more than 28 million smokers in the country, and half of them live with a smoking-related disease.

Hey, at least it's declined by more than 20% in the last 20 years, so I guess those public service announcements, continued health warnings, and cigarette tax increases have helped, not to mention the majority of us think it's gross.

As mentioned, I rarely see anyone smoking, so I decided to research to see if it all depends on where we live.

Massachusetts has the lowest number of smokers in New England, ranking 46th lowest in the country. Connecticut is 41st, Rhode Island 35th, Vermont 31st, and New Hampshire 29th.

Sadly, Maine is ranked the 15th state with the most smokers.

According to MSN, here's the percentage of residents who smoke in each state.

25%

West Virginia

22%

Kentucky

Arkansas

21%

Mississippi

Indiana

20%

Ohio

Tennessee

Oklahoma

Alabama

19%

Wyoming

Michigan

South Carolina

South Dakota

Louisiana

Missouri

18%

Maine

Alaska

North Dakota

Montana

17%

Kansas

North Carolina

New Mexico

Iowa

Pennsylvania

16%

Georgia

Wisconsin

Delaware

Florida

15%

New Hampshire

Nebraska

14%

Vermont

Minnesota

Idaho

Nevada

Rhode Island

Virginia

Arizona

Oregon

13%

Texas

Illinois

Connecticut

Colorado

12%

New York

Hawaii

Washington

11%

Massachusetts

Maryland

New Jersey

9%

California

8%

Utah

By the way, this breaks down to nearly 12% of adults in America who smoke, according to the CDC, with 13% of those men and 10% being women. This truly means that barely anyone smokes anymore.