CHICAGO — Smoking will cost you big time in Illinois.
The habit will cost a smoker an estimated nearly $1.8 million throughout his or her lifetime, making Illinois among the costliest states in the nation for users, according to a new study.
The study from WalletHub looked at the out-of-pocket cost to smokers as well as financial opportunity cost (how much money smokers would have made by investing money instead of spending it on cigarettes), healthcare cost, income loss per smoke and other expenses.
The study found smoking in Illinois will end up costing people more than $34,000 a year or $1.77 million over a lifetime of smoking for about 50 years.
For a pack-a-day smoker, the habit can cost more than $2,700 per year just to buy cigarettes, the study found.
New York is the most expensive ($2.3 million) state for smokers while Kentucky is the most affordable ($1.1 million) over a person's lifetime.
Experts from the study said governments taxing cigarettes and banning indoor smoking can play a significant role in pushing people to quit smoking.
Chicago bans smoking indoors in bars and restaurants, shopping malls and other hubs, and local cigarette taxes are among the highest — if not the highest — in the country.
What else costs $1.8 million?
• A Pagani Zonda Cinque Roadster costs $1.8 million. It's one of the most expensive cars in the world and only five were made.
• You could pick up a three-bedroom, four-bathroom condo in the Gold Coast for $1.8 million. It comes with a butler's pantry, wood-burning fireplace and garage parking (for the Cinque Roadster your partner can get if he or she quits smoking, too).
• You can get a 180-million-year-old bath tub for $1.74 million. It's made out of petrified wood.
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