More Americans Use Cannabis Daily Than Alcohol or Cigarettes

Key Takeaways

• 21.4 million Americans used cannabis daily or near-daily in 2025, according to federal survey data.
• Daily cannabis use has now surpassed both daily cigarette smoking at 19.9 million and daily alcohol consumption at 17.2 million.
• The number of daily or near-daily cannabis consumers increased approximately 21% between 2022 and 2025.
• Adults, particularly those aged 26 and older, are driving most of the increase rather than teenagers.
• Alcohol remains much more widely consumed overall, with approximately 129 million Americans drinking in the previous month, compared with 43.8 million cannabis consumers.

Cannabis has reached a major milestone in the United States. New federal data shows that more Americans now use cannabis on a daily or near-daily basis than drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes every day.

According to the 2025 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, approximately 21.4 million Americans use cannabis daily or almost daily. The survey is conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

By comparison, an estimated 19.9 million Americans smoke cigarettes daily, while approximately 17.2 million consume alcohol every day.

Daily Cannabis Use Continues to Rise

SAMHSA defines daily or near-daily cannabis consumption as use on at least 300 days during the previous year.

The number of people meeting that threshold has increased considerably in recent years. In 2022, approximately 17.7 million Americans reported daily or near-daily cannabis use. By 2025, that figure had climbed to 21.4 million.

That represents an increase of roughly 3.7 million people, or 21%, in just three years.

The increase appears to be driven primarily by adults rather than teenagers. Among Americans aged 18 and older, daily or near-daily cannabis use increased from approximately 17.2 million in 2021 to 20.9 million in 2025.

Adults aged 26 and older accounted for a particularly significant portion of the growth.

Alcohol Still Leads in Overall Consumption

While cannabis has overtaken alcohol when looking specifically at daily or near-daily consumption, alcohol remains much more widely used overall.

Approximately 129 million Americans reported drinking alcohol during the previous month, compared with 43.8 million who reported using cannabis.

The difference suggests that alcohol remains more common among occasional and moderate consumers, while cannabis has developed a comparatively large population of frequent users.

Overall cannabis use has also continued to increase. The percentage of Americans reporting cannabis consumption rose from 13.2% in 2021 to 15.1% in 2025.

Tobacco has moved in the opposite direction. Cigarette and other tobacco product use declined from 20.1% of Americans in 2021 to 15.9% in 2025.

Cannabis Use Is Also Changing Among Younger Workers

Separate research suggests that attitudes toward cannabis may be changing particularly quickly among younger Americans.

An April 2026 survey of 1,000 full-time employees conducted for workplace mental health platform Modern Health found that 63% reported using at least one form of self-medication after work, while 52% reported doing so during working hours.

Gen Z was the only generation surveyed in which reported THC use after work exceeded alcohol consumption.

According to the survey, 59% of Gen Z respondents reported using cannabis or THC products after work, compared with 50% who reported drinking alcohol.

The findings should be interpreted cautiously because the workplace survey was relatively small and is separate from the much larger federal SAMHSA dataset. Still, it provides another indication that consumption patterns may be shifting among younger adults.

What the Numbers Actually Show

The latest federal data does not mean that cannabis has overtaken alcohol as America’s most commonly consumed substance overall.

Instead, it highlights a more specific shift: more Americans now consume cannabis almost every day than consume alcohol every day.

At the same time, declining tobacco consumption and rising cannabis use point toward a broader change in American substance-use patterns.

As cannabis legalization and normalization continue across much of the country, researchers will be watching whether daily consumption continues to increase and what that means for public health.

The long-term effects of increasingly frequent cannabis use remain an important area of research, particularly as today’s cannabis products can contain substantially higher THC concentrations than products available several decades ago.

For now, however, the latest federal numbers mark a notable cultural milestone: daily cannabis consumption has moved ahead of both daily drinking and cigarette smoking in the United States.

Do you think cannabis will eventually overtake alcohol in overall use as well? Let us know in the comments.