Smoking costs the United States more than $600,000,000,000 a year, yes, 600 billion. How is that calculated? Someone has crunched the numbers, so much that they've figured out that it costs the average smoker in Connecticut just over 5 million dollars over their lifetime.

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What's the true cost of smoking? I haven't allowed myself a cigarette in 24 years, but damn I still want one when I catch a whiff or watch someone take a drag on-screen. WalletHub.com has just released The Real Cost of Smoking by State for 2025, where they've calculated the potential monetary cost of both lifetime and annually of a pack-a-day smoker. For their methodology, WalletHub.com calculated the potential monetary losses for the average pack-a-day smoker over a 50 year habit, including the cost of tobacco, health care expenses, exposure to secondhand smoke, income loss, and other costs per smoker. Overall Connecticut just missed the Top 5 most expensive states for smokers in the US.

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The most expensive place in all of the US for 2025 for smokers is New York, followed by Washington DC, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Connecticut comes in at #6. On average smoking will take $4,526 out of your pocket each year here, and Connecticut leads the nation in healthcare costs per smoker annually at $7,038. Over a lifetime, it will cost the average smoker in Connecticut $217,248 out of pocket for that sweet tobacco, and we lead the nation again at #1 in the ranking in healthcare costs per smoker at $337,825 over the course of a lifetime.

What struck me about WalletHub's methodology is the amount of money the average smoker loses with each cigarette by smoking it instead of investing that money. Think of this before you pick up that butt.

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