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Which States Have Banned Smoking Completely?

New York's smoking ban in 2003 ushered in a new no-smoking era, according to USA Today. As of that date, 21 states could boast an absence of smoking in both public and private places of employment in their states, as well as all bars and restaurants. That figure includes prison systems in those states too. But in July of 2010, the American Cancer Society released new, more promising, figures about statewide bans.

  1. Northern States

    • The majority of states that can boast statewide bans on smoking in public and private workplaces, as well as bars and restaurants are located in the North, according to the most recent report by the American Cancer Society. These states--known as Green states for their move to stop smoking--include Washington, Oregon, Montana, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, New York, Vermont, Maine, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and the District of Columbia.

      Idaho, North and South Dakota, as well as Connecticut, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire are considered "yellow states": states which exceed the lack of a 100 percent ban on smoking (red states), but still do not have a complete 100 percent ban on all three categories: workplace (public and private), restaurants and bars. But South Dakota may potentially exit the yellow state status, if their state ban law is approved in November of 2010.

    Southern States

    • Arizona, Kansas and Utah round out the southern states that can boast 100 percent state laws that prohibit smoking in public and private workplaces, as well as restaurants and bars. But the southern states of Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina--and the western states of New Mexico, Colorado and California can say they are almost to that point, banning smoking in at least two of the three workplace, restaurant and bar categories.

    Other States

    • Hawaii and Puerto Rico both get good marks, too, joining the green states by earning the 100 percent ban on smoking status, according to the American Cancer Society's July 2010 report chart. States without a complete 100 percent ban in public and private workplaces as well as restaurants and bars are, at least, moving in that direction, and number a total of 15, according to the American Cancer Society.

      Those states are: Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Guam, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wyoming. The Permanently Stop Smoking website offers details about the specific smoking exceptions in those 15 states, like Texas, where smoking is banned almost everywhere except bars and hotels.

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