Smokers in New York are paying more for a lifetime's worth of cigarettes than nicotine addicts anywhere else in the country, according to a new study by the personal finance website WalletHub.
A New Yorker who smokes a pack of cigarettes a day from age 18, the age at which one can legally purchase tobacco in the city, to 69, the average age at which a smoker dies, spends $187,379 on tobacco, WalletHub calculated. That's $3,674 a year.
According to that calculation, the average price is roughly $10 a pack, a number that anecdotal evidence suggests is a gross underestimate — the average could be closer to $12.85.
WalletHub attributes the data to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which may not be factoring in the $4.35 NY state tax per cigarette package.
Smokers in these four states pay the most after New York for a lifelong supply for a pack-a-day smoker: Alaska ($165,692), Hawaii ($164,538), Massachusetts($163,458) and Rhode Island ($153,537).
As for the converse, these five states are home to smokers paying the least for their life-long habit: Missouri ($84,754), Louisiana ($87,937), North Dakota ($88,105), North Carolina ($88,570), and Georgia ($89,222).
WalletHub did not take into the consideration the cost of e-cigarettes and vaping.
