By Stephanie Overton, MSN, on KLAS Las Vegas
January 23, 2026- Smoking isn’t just bad for your health… it can also take a toll on your finances.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cigarette smoking kills nearly half a million Americans each year. The American Lung Association says that smoking is the number one cause of lung cancer, causing about 90 percent of cases.
“Since 1964, smoking-related diseases have claimed more than 20 million lives in the U.S., including 2.5 million nonsmokers who became ill solely from exposure to secondhand smoke,” a study from WalletHub said.
The economic impacts can be just as staggering, the study showed. The CDC’s economic trends in tobacco page shows that smoking costs the U.S. more than $600 billion in medical expenses and lost productivity.
WalletHub analyzed the per-person cost of smoking across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, looking at the potential lifetime and annual financial losses. The study looked at different factors, from the annual cost of a cigarette pack per day to health care expenditures, income losses, and other costs associated with smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke.
“Buying cigarettes for your entire adult life can cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars, but that number pales in comparison to the hidden costs of smoking,” WalletHub Analyst Chip Lupo said. “Over a lifetime, smokers lose out on millions of dollars they could have made if they’d invested the money they spent on tobacco. Smokers also tend to have lower wages, higher health care costs and higher home insurance premiums.”
Source: WalletHub
The study found that the lifetime cost of smoking in Nevada is $4,048,991, ranking at no. 26 out of the 50 states and Washington, D.C., including more than $3 million in “financial opportunity cost,” nearly $200,000 in healthcare costs, and more than $600,000 in income loss.
The study also showed that the cost per year for smokers in Nevada was $84,354.
The CDC provides each state with a recommended spending level for tobacco prevention, according to the organization’s website. The site said Maine is the only state that funds its program at the recommended level.
