How Much Does a Smoker Spend a Year?

The price of a pack of cigarettes has greatly increased over the years, as has the tax on cigarettes. It might be surprising to some smokers how much money goes up in smoke with their habit each year. According to smokefreesociety.org, "an average smoker spends over $1,500 a year on their cigarettes alone..." This number will obviously vary from smoker to smoker. To calculate how much you spend on cigarettes for a whole year, you need to determine how much you smoke and how much you pay for your cigarettes.

How Much Do You Smoke?

• Determine how much you smoke. If you smoke a pack a day, every day throughout the year, you are spending considerably more than somebody who only smokes three packs a week. Accurately determine how much you smoke during the year by multiplying the number of packs (or portion of a pack) you smoke each day and multiply that number by 365 (days in the year).

Price

• The price of cigarettes varies considerably throughout the country, in part because of differing state taxes on tobacco. You need to determine how much you are spending for a pack of cigarettes in your area.

How You Buy Cigarettes

• There are many different ways for people to buy cigarettes. Some people buy cigarettes by the pack, others buy cartons of cigarettes and others roll their own. Buying tobacco and rolling your own cigarettes is the cheapest of these options.

Yearly spending

• Use a simple formula to determine how much you spend to support your habit each year.
  (How many packs you smoke each year) X (How much you spend for each pack) = Yearly spending.
  For those who roll their own cigarettes, use this formula:
  (How many packages of tobacco and rolling papers you buy each year) X (How much you spend for each package of tobacco and rolling papers) = Yearly spending.