Think Of The Money You Could Save If You Stopped Smoking

Saving up for an extravagant vacation? You might want to quit smoking to help pay for it. A new analysis released as part of Tobacco-Free Awareness Week reveals that millions of smokers in the United States may be more likely to drop the habit if they realize just how much money they could save.

WalletHub took on the challenge of coming up with the cost of smoking on a state by state basis. The organization published "The Financial Cost of Smoking by State," in order to help encourage smokers to kick the habit. The personal finance website gauged the financial cost of smoking for each of the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia by computing the potential monetary loses related from smoking.

Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that close to 42.1 million Americans who are at least 18 smoke, with costs totaling around $301 billion annually and increasing.

Smoking is lowest in South Carolina, at a total cost of $1,097,690, followed by West Virginia at $1,105,977 and Kentucky at $1,115,619. However, rates are higher in Alaska, followed by Connecticut, where the costs range around $1,992,690. New York came in shortly after at $1,982,856.

If you factor in added health care costs, the stakes are even higher. Statistics show that smoking dramatically increases the risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, along with many other types of cancer and health issues.

Cost was determined by what a smoker spent over 51 years buying a pack of cigarettes a day along with the money earned if he or she had been investing in the stock market during the same period.

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