WJEZ file graphic
by Jim Anderson–Illinois Radio News
Illinois is an expensive state for smokers – the 14th most-expensive state over the course of a lifetime of smoking, according to a study by Wallet Hub.
Spokesman Jill Gonzalez says they calculated the cost of tobacco at a pack a day for 51 years. “And then we counted the amount of return a person would have earned by instead investing that money in the stock market over the same period. We used a historical average market return rate for the S&P 500, minus the inflation rate during the same time period to reflect the return in present-value terms,” she said.
Similarly, the tobacco cost is calculated at 2015 prices.
Also figured in are health care and health insurance costs, and lost income due to illness and job opportunities denied due to being a smoker.
Over a lifetime in Illinois, that rings up to $1,549,069. The cheapest state for smoking is South Carolina at $1,097,690. The most expensive is Alaska, at $2,032,916.
http://wallethub.com/edu/the-financial-cost-of-smoking-by-state/9520/
