Beyond the health toll, smoking is expensive for the people who smoke and for everyone around them. Here is what the numbers look like, state by state.
WalletHub's 2025 analysis of the financial cost of smoking counts five kinds of expense: the cigarettes themselves, smoking-related health care, lost income, higher homeowner's insurance, and the costs secondhand smoke places on non-smokers.
spent each year in the U.S. on medical expenses and lost productivity tied to smoking, according to the study.
less income, on average, for smokers than for non-smokers, as reported in the study.
higher homeowner's insurance premiums for smokers, according to the study.
The map shows WalletHub's estimate of the lifetime financial cost of smoking in each state. Hover over a state to see its figure. Higher health care costs and higher cigarette prices push a state's estimate up.
In WalletHub's ranking, Colorado is the 16th most costly state, with an estimated lifetime cost of about $4.5 million per smoker. The District of Columbia, Maryland, and New York rank highest. Mississippi, North Carolina, and Missouri rank lowest.
WalletHub breaks the cost of smoking into five categories. Here is how Colorado's estimate adds up, for a smoker who buys a pack a day from age 21 to 69. Ranks compare Colorado with the other states, where 1 is the costliest.
| Category | Lifetime cost | Rank | Annual cost | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Out-of-Pocket Cost | $190,092 | 17 | $3,960 | 17 |
| Financial Opportunity Cost | $3,329,807 | 17 | $69,371 | 17 |
| Health-Care Cost per Smoker | $204,765 | 29 | $4,266 | 29 |
| Income Loss per Smoker | $798,941 | 10 | $16,645 | 10 |
| Other Costs per Smoker | $21,051 | 5 | $439 | 5 |
| Total Cost per Smoker | $4,544,655 | 16 | $94,680 | 16 |
The definitions below follow WalletHub's published methodology. The study's data were collected as of December 17, 2025.
The average price of a pack of cigarettes in Colorado, multiplied by every day of a 48-year smoking life. WalletHub assumes one pack a day, starting at age 21 and continuing through age 69.
The investment return that money would have earned if it had gone into the stock market instead. WalletHub uses the S&P 500's historical average return, minus inflation, in present-value terms over the same period.
State-level CDC data on the annual health care costs caused by smoking, divided by the number of adult smokers in Colorado.
WalletHub assumes smokers earn 18% less than the state's median household income, based on a National Longitudinal Surveys finding that smokers earn about 18.1% less than non-smokers.
Higher homeowner's insurance premiums (an assumed 11.1% increase) plus the cost of secondhand smoke exposure. The secondhand smoke figure uses New York's per-nonsmoker cost as a stand-in and spreads it across Colorado's smokers.
The sum of the five categories above. Colorado ranks 16th costliest overall, in the middle-to-high range of states.
Source: WalletHub, “The Financial Cost of Smoking by State.”
Every adult who stops smoking cigarettes, whether by quitting outright or by moving to a lower-risk alternative, reduces both their own health risks and the financial burden that smoking creates for families, employers, and taxpayers. That is the goal behind our approach: give adults realistic options, keep these products away from kids, and base the rules on evidence.
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