The District and Maryland have landed near the top of the list among all the states when it comes to the high cost of smoking cigarettes.
WalletHub has calculated what it calls “the true per-person cost of smoking.” Looking beyond the costs of health care and lost time at work, the analysis also took into account what it calls the “financial opportunity cost” — the amount of money a person would have earned in the stock market and invested in the S&P 500, if the person’s dollars weren’t spent on cigarettes.
New York tops the nationwide ranking of the real cost of smoking, at a total lifetime cost for a New York smoker being nearly $5.2 million.
The District of Columbia ranks second in the WalletHub rankings, where it’s estimated that D.C. smokers spend nearly $211,000 over a lifetime on cigarettes. That amount invested in stocks would yield nearly $3.8 million. With health care costs estimated at $311,000 and other income losses, the total lifetime cost estimated to D.C. smokers is $5.1 million per smoker.
Maryland is ranked third with a total cost per smoker of $4.9 million. Maryland smokers are estimated to spend nearly $207,000 over their lifetimes on cigarettes, which could have earned $3.7 million in the stock market. The report adds that Maryland smokers also pay a $130 higher premium for homeowners insurance.
Virginia ranked 29th on the nationwide list, with a total lifetime cost of $3.4 million per smoker and an estimated lifetime spending of $135,000 — an amount that would have earned nearly $2.4 million dollars invested in the S&P 500.
The report includes tips for quitting smoking including the use of nicotine replacement therapy and replacing smoking with healthy habits, like exercise or munching on fruit or vegetables.
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