New York Smokers Will Spend Over $3 Million During Their Lifetime
Does anyone know the true cost to being a smoker? According to a new study the average New York smoker will spend over $3 Million over the course of their lifetime.
WalletHub recently conducted the study in order to find out where each state ranked when it comes to the "The Real Cost of Smoking by State." The study was broken down into several categories including Out-of-Pocket Cost, Cost Over a Lifetime, Healthcare Cost and others. In a nutshell, New Yorkers are shelling out the third most amount of money overall out of all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
When looking at New York State, the study first analyzed how much the "Out-of-Pocket" cost was to the average New York smoker. When calculating the lifetime cost, experts took the average cost of a pack of cigarettes in the state and multiplied that by the amount of days in 48 years. The average cost is multiplied by 365 days to calculate the yearly out-of-pocket cost. In New York State, the average smoker will spend $183,848 of their own hard-earned dollars during a lifetime and $3,822 a year. Both of those calculations rank New York 51st in the nation (including D.C.)
Another important aspect to look at is the overall healthcare cost for a New York smoker, or their health insurer. The study organizers explained,
Direct medical costs to treat smoking-connected health complications are one of the biggest financial drains caused by tobacco use. To calculate related health-care costs, we obtained state-level data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — namely the annual health care costs caused by smoking — and divided that amount by the total number of adult smokers in each state.
The average lifetime healthcare cost for the New York smoker is $248,603. In one year it will cost an average of $5,179.
One thing this study shows for sure is that it pays to quit! You can look at the full study ranking by state below.