How much money do you save by quitting smoking?

Key takeaways

• Yearly savings = packs per day × price per pack × 365.
• At $7.22 a pack, the 2021 U.S. average store price, one pack a day costs about $2,635 a year.
• The $7.22 figure is for 20-cigarette packs, and U.S. retailers may not sell packs of fewer than 20 cigarettes.
• In 2024, U.S. state cigarette taxes ranged from 17 cents (Missouri) to $5.35 (New York) per pack, on top of a $1.01 federal tax.
• Use the price you actually pay; prices differ by place and have changed since 2021.

How do you calculate how much money you'll save?

Start with what you actually spend. The basic formula is packs per day × price per pack × 365 = yearly savings. Divide the yearly figure by 12 for a monthly amount, or multiply it by the number of years you plan to stay smoke-free.

If you count cigarettes rather than packs, divide the number you smoke each day by the number in your pack. In the U.S., the FDA tells retailers not to sell cigarette packages containing fewer than 20 cigarettes, and the price data below is for 20-cigarette packs.

• Yearly: packs per day × price per pack × 365
• Monthly: yearly total ÷ 12
• Packs per day (20-cigarette packs): cigarettes per day ÷ 20
• Cost per cigarette (20-cigarette packs): price per pack ÷ 20

How much does a pack a day cost in the U.S.?

A study published in JAMA Network Open analyzed retail scanner data from brick-and-mortar stores (online sales were not included). It found that the weighted average price of a pack of cigarettes in the continental U.S. rose from $5.57 in 2015 to $7.22 in 2021.

Prices have changed since 2021 and differ from place to place, so plug in what you pay today. Using $7.22 per pack as an example, the math works out like this:

• Half a pack a day: $3.61 × 365 ≈ $1,318 per year
• One pack a day: $7.22 × 365 ≈ $2,635 per year (about $220 a month)
• Two packs a day: $14.44 × 365 ≈ $5,271 per year
• One pack a day for 5 years at the same price: $2,635.30 × 5 ≈ $13,177

Why does the cost of smoking vary so much by location?

Cigarette taxes differ a lot from place to place. According to the CDC, the federal tax on a pack of cigarettes is $1.01, and in 2024 the average state tobacco tax was $1.93 per pack. State taxes ranged from $5.35 per pack in New York to 17 cents per pack in Missouri.

That means the same habit can cost very different amounts depending on where you live, and an estimate based on a national average may be far from your real number. Outside the U.S., prices and taxes are different again, so always use your local price in the formula.

Does smoking cost more than just the cigarettes?

At a national level, yes. The CDC estimates that in 2018, cigarette smoking cost the United States more than $600 billion, including more than $240 billion in health care spending. Those are society-wide costs rather than a personal savings figure, so they aren't part of the calculation above, and what you would personally save on health costs isn't something the formula can tell you.