The financial cost of smoking in Kentucky is so big, you really may want to quit when you see it

With the economic and societal costs of smoking totaling more than $300 billion per year, the personal-finance website WalletHub released its report on The Real Cost of Smoking by State, as well as accompanying videos and expert commentary.

WalletHub’s financial writer Adam McCann writes:

WalletHub graphic

Smoking doesn’t just ruin your health. It can also burn a nasty hole through your wallet. Tobacco use accounts for nearly half a million deaths in the U.S. each year and is the leading cause of lung cancer, according to the American Lung Association. Smokers also may have an increased risk of severe symptoms from COVID-19. In addition, even those around tobacco smokers aren’t safe from its harmful effects. Since 1964, smoking-related illnesses have claimed over 20 million lives in the U.S., 2.5 million of which belonged to nonsmokers who developed diseases merely from secondhand-smoke exposure.

To encourage the estimated 34.2 million tobacco users in the U.S. to kick this dangerous habit, WalletHub calculated the potential monetary losses — including the lifetime and annual costs of a cigarette pack per day, health care expenditures, income losses, and other costs — brought on by smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke.

The Financial Cost of Smoking in Kentucky (1=Lowest, 25=Avg.):

• Out-of-Pocket Cost per Smoker – $109,500 (Rank: 12th)
• Financial-Opportunity Cost per Smoker – $1,145,546 (Rank: 12th)
• Health-Care Cost per Smoker – $123,350 (Rank: 3rd)
• Income Loss per Smoker – $437,089 (Rank: 7th)
• Other Costs per Smoker – $10,158 (Rank: 6th)
• Total Cost Over Lifetime per Smoker: $$1,825,644
• Total Cost per Year per Smoker: $38,034

For the full report, please visit:
https://wallethub.com/edu/the-financial-cost-of-smoking-by-state/9520

For help to quit smoking in Kentucky, visit Quit Now Kentucky.