A Lifetime of Smoking Could Cost You More Than $2 Million, Study Says

 
You already know that smoking is bad for your health. But if that hasn’t inspired you to put down the lighter once and for all, maybe this will: A new study says your habit may cost you more than $2 million over the course of your lifetime.

WalletHub determined the financial burden of smoking in every state in the country, and found that smoking costs Massachusetts residents as much as $2,269,056 throughout the course of a lifetime, or $44,491 per year. Only New York has a more expensive habit, at $2,452,735 total and $48,093 per year. Yikes.

The study’s figures factor in the raw cost of cigarettes; opportunity cost, or money lost by spending money on cigarettes instead of investing; smoking-related healthcare costs; income loss as a result of smoking, either because of lost productivity, absenteeism, or other factors; and miscellaneous costs, like more expensive homeowner’s insurance for smokers.

Massachusetts was among them costliest states in the nation for each of the above metrics, ringing in at most expensive in the country for smoking-related healthcare costs. In part because of Massachusetts’ high cigarette tax, out-of-pocket costs alone come to $163,458 over the course of a lifetime. To put it in perspective, that could pay for almost seven years of rent, even at Boston’s absurdly high average housing price of $2,009 per month.

Louisiana, Kentucky, Missouri, West Virginia, and North Carolina were the five cheapest states for smokers, but even in the least expensive, Louisiana, a smoker can expect to lose up to $1,232,159 over the years.

Quitting is looking better and better—and more and more profitable.