With the economic and societal costs of smoking totaling more than $300 billion a year and rising, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on The Real Cost of Smoking by State.
To encourage the estimated 36.5 million tobacco users in the U.S. to kick the dangerous habit, WalletHub calculated the potential monetary losses — including the lifetime and annual costs of a cigarette pack per day, health care expenditures, income losses and other costs — brought on by smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke.
| States with the Lowest Smoking Costs | States with the Highest Smoking Costs | ||||
| 1 | Kentucky | 42 | California | ||
| 2 | Georgia | 43 | Vermont | ||
| 3 | North Carolina | 44 | District of Columbia | ||
| 4 | Mississippi | 45 | Minnesota | ||
| 5 | North Dakota | 46 | Alaska | ||
| 6 | Tennessee | 47 | Hawaii | ||
| 7 | Alabama | 48 | Rhode Island | ||
| 8 | South Carolina | 49 | Connecticut | ||
| 9 | Missouri | 50 | Massachusetts | ||
| 10 | Idaho | 51 | New York | ||
Key Stats
- The estimated financial cost of smoking over a lifetime is just above $1.5 million per smoker.
- The out-of-pocket cost per smoker is $120,432 over a lifetime. Smokers in New York will pay the highest cost, $194,341, which is 2.3 times higher than in North Dakota, where smokers will pay the lowest cost at $84,140.
- Each smoker will incur an average of $228,607 in income loss over a lifetime. Smokers in Maryland will lose the highest amount, $310,353, which is 1.9 times higher than in Mississippi, where smokers will lose the lowest amount at $165,354.
- Each smoker will incur an average of $172,055 in smoking-related health-care costs over a lifetime. Smokers in Massachusetts will pay the highest amount, $285,966, which is 2.5 times higher than in Arkansas, where smokers will pay the lowest amount at $116,115.
To view the full report and your state or the District’s rank, please visit:
https://wallethub.com/edu/the-
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