Background We examine the association among five types of state regulations on electronic cigarettes (defining e-cigarettes, special tax, packaging, youth access and licensure) and initiation and current usage of e-cigarettes in 50 US states and the District of Columbia.

Methods Data came from the 2017 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and the US e-cigarette regulations—50 state review by the Public Health Law Center. Logistic regressions were used to determine the odds of initiation and current use of e-cigarettes among individuals aged 18–24, 25–34 and the whole sample, adjusting for socio-demographic covariates.

Results Despite the short history of state laws on e-cigarettes, each of the five state laws was associated with lower odds of initiation and use of e-cigarettes in the whole sample. In the 18–24 age group, only the licensure was associated with lower initiation. In the 25–34 age group, the licensure and taxation were related to lower initiation and current usage. There were significant differences of e-cigarette initiation and usage based on the number of state laws regulating e-cigarettes.

Conclusions Our analysis indicates the potential of states’ policy efforts to regulate e-cigarettes comprehensively in leading significant changes to e-cigarette prevalence in their populations.