Alaska has the highest total cost per smoker and tobacco cost per smoker out of all the states according to findings from WalletHub.com.
The cost of tobacco for every smoker is $1,029,646 over a lifetime and smokers in Alaska will pay two times more than smokers in South Carolina which is ranked lowest state for total cost ($1,097,690) and tobacco cost per smoker($786,346).
Alaska’s total cost per user averages at $2,032,916 which is still nearly double than even Montana which is ranked 25th at an average of $1,370,191.
The study also found that Alaska is 38th for health care cost per smoker, averaging around $182,575 along with 50th for income loss per smoker over a lifetime at $287,546.
Tobacco costs were determined by averaging the cost of a pack of cigarettes in each state and multiplying that figure by the total number of days in 51 years. That number was compared by calculating the amount of return a person would have earned by instead investing that money in the stock market over that same period using historical market returns.
WalletHub collected data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Insurance Information Institute, NYsmokefree.com, the Federal Reserve database in St. Louis (FRED) and the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America for Tobacco Free Awareness Week.
For that full study, click here.