Study: Average Hawaiʻi Smoker Spends $2 Million Over Lifetime

Photo: Lindsay Fox.

The financial cost of smoking for Hawaiʻi residents ranks among the highest in the nation. According to a new study released by the finance consulting website WalletHub.com, the average Hawaiʻi smoker spends $2,067,655 during their lifetime on cigarettes and associated healthcare costs. That figure calculates to an annual cost of $40,542 per smoker.

The nationwide study assessed the financial cost of smoking for residents in all 50 states. Hawaiʻi ranked among the top states with the highest smoking costs in the nation:

The financial cost of smoking in Hawaiʻi (1=lowest, 25=average):
• Out-of-Pocket Cost per Smoker – $167,535 (Rank: 47th)
• Financial-Opportunity Cost per Smoker – $1,407,368 (Rank: 47th)
• Health-Care Cost per Smoker – $185,243 (Rank: 36th)
• Income Loss per Smoker – $293,666 (Rank: 47th)

According to WalletHub.com, the economic and societal cost of smoking is estimated at $300 billion a year and continues to rise. The study was conducted to encourage the estimated 36.5 million smokers in the U.S. to kick the habit by revealing the lifetime and annual financial cost of smoking, including healthcare expenditures, income losses and other losses associated with tobacco use and secondhand smoke exposure.

Tobacco deaths account for nearly half a million deaths each year in the U.S., and is the leading cause of lung cancer according to the American Lung Association.