Arizonans spend over $1M apiece on smoking, related costs over lifetime
Jan 20, 2015, 10:12 AM | Updated: 10:12 am
PHOENIX — For Arizona smokers who wished that they had a million dollars, well, that’s about how much smoking costs over their lifetime, according to a study.
Social media personal-finance company WalletHub looked at smoking costs in the United States and Arizona came in as the 36th-most expensive at $1,527,427 per smoker.
WalletHub took the average cost of a pack of cigarettes in each state, multiplied that figure by the number of days in 51 years, and calculated the amount of return a person would have earned had they invested that money in the stock market.
Direct medical costs to treat smoking-related health complications and higher insurance premiums for smokers were also a factor in the equation.
The national average worked out to $1.4 million. South Carolina had the lowest costs at $1.1 million. Alaska finished worst at just over $2 million.
KTAR’s Jim Cross contributed to this report.
