2025 Youth Risk Behavior Survey results

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released the Youth Health in Focus report with results from the 2025 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), which measures a range of behaviors (e.g., diet, physical activity, mental health and substance use) among U.S. high school students.

• The report includes data comparing 2025 to the last survey in 2023, as well as 10-year trends (2015-2025).

The bigger picture: The report this year focused on diet and physical activity – priority areas for HHS Secretary Kennedy. It omitted findings on sexual health, alcohol and tobacco use, and access to guns, despite surveying teens on those issues.

• In past years, CDC has published a lengthy, comprehensive report, often nearing 100 pages, summarizing all the results of the YRBS. This year, the agency published a much shorter report – 36 pages – including results on only exercise, diet, sleep, digital behaviors, and mental health.
• But CDC did update its website with the full results.

The results: Drug and tobacco use largely decreased. Slightly fewer students reported using electronic vaping products than in 2023, and fewer reported drinking alcohol or using marijuana or cocaine.

• Tobacco/nicotine use: 18.6% of high school students reported current use of tobacco/nicotine products. 4.8% reported trying a cigarette for the first time before age 13, down from 9.5% in 2017. 3.5% reported currently using cigarettes. 16% reported currently using an electronic vapor product, similar to 2023 but down from 2015.
• Alcohol use: 20% of high school students reported currently drinking alcohol. That’s down from nearly 51% in 1991. 12.9% had their first drink of alcohol before age 13, continuing a declining pattern.
• Marijuana use: 4.4% of high schoolers tried marijuana for the first time before age 13, and 12.9% reported current marijuana use.
• Illicit drug use: 9.7% reported using illicit drugs, compared with nearly 27% when the question was first asked in 2001. 10.6% reported ever misusing prescription pain medication. Use of most illicit drugs was low — 5.2% ever used hallucinogenics, 5% inhalants, 2% cocaine, 1.3% methamphetamine, and 1.1% heroin.
• Mental health: Many of the mental health indicators improved 2023-2025, including persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness (decreased from 40% to 33%) and poor mental health (29% to 23%).
• Sleep: Only about 1 in 4 students got at least 8 hours of sleep on an average school night in 2025, similar to 2023.
• Social media: About 1 in 3 students reported social media use every hour or more in 2025, similar to 2023.

Read more: Mental Health Among Teenagers Is Improving, C.D.C. Finds; CDC’s teen behavior report focuses on nutrition, downplays sex and drug use; More veggies, more unprotected sex: Government survey of teens shows mixed risk picture