Smoking doesn’t just damage your health – it can also take a serious toll on your finances.
Tobacco use is responsible for nearly half a million deaths in the United States each year and remains the leading cause of lung cancer, according to the American Lung Association. Even people who don’t smoke are at risk.
Since 1964, smoking-related diseases have claimed more than 20 million lives in the U.S., including 2.5 million nonsmokers who became ill from exposure to secondhand smoke.
The economic and social impacts are equally significant. Each year, smoking costs the U.S. more than $600 billion in medical expenses and lost productivity.
To encourage the 49.2 million tobacco users in the U.S. to break the habit, WalletHub, a personal finance website, analyzed the per-person cost of smoking in 50 states and the District of Columbia. The study looked at potential lifetime and annual financial losses – from the annual cost of a cigarette pack per day to health care expenditures, income losses, and other costs – associated with smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke.
Real cost of smoking by state and district
Highest costs
1.District of Columbia
2. Maryland
3. New York
4. Connecticut
5. Rhode Island
6. Massachusetts
7. Hawaii
8. Washington
9. Alaska
10. New Jersey
Lowest cost
42.Georgia
43. North Dakota
44. South Carolina
45. West Virginia
46. Kentucky
47. Tennessee
48. Alabama
49. Missouri
50. North Carolina
51. Mississippi
In Washington, D.C., in the No. 1 spot, residents spend an average of more than $5,000 a year on cigarettes, or about $244,000 during their entire life. That causes them to miss out on nearly $4.3 million in retirement money they could have earned if they invested the cash instead.
In Mississippi, No. 51 in the ranking, residents spend an average of $3,040 a year on cigarettes.
“Smoking has greatly declined in the U.S. in recent decades, but nearly 50 million people still use tobacco products,” said Chip Lupo, WalletHub analyst.
Buying cigarettes for your entire adult life can cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars, but that number pales in comparison to the hidden costs of smoking, Lupo said.
“Over a lifetime, smokers lose out on millions of dollars they could have made if they’d invested the money they spent on tobacco,” he said. “Smokers also tend to have lower wages, higher health care costs and higher home insurance premiums.”
