Tobacco use has been a hot button issue in Minnesota in recent years. The entire state has raised the tobacco buying age from 18-21, and that new law goes into effect starting in September of 2020. If you are trying to kick the habit in 2020, here are some numbers that might be helpful.

Wallethub recently conducted a study to find out what the real cost of smoking is in every state across America.

Every year, smoking costs the U.S. more than $300 billion, which includes both medical care and lost productivity. We calculated the potential monetary losses — including both the lifetime and annual cost of a cigarette pack per day, health care expenditures, income losses and other costs — brought on by smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke.

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Minnesota did not fare well in this study. Overall we landed in the top 10 for highest cost of smoking across the United States.

States with the highest smoking costs (ranked by highest cost):

  1. New York
  2. Connecticut
  3. District of Columbia
  4. Massachusetts
  5. Rhode Island
  6. Alaska
  7. Hawaii
  8. Minnesota
  9. Vermont
  10. Washington

To determine the out-of-pocket cost of smokers in every state, Wallethub took the average cost of a pack of cigarettes, and multiplied it by 365. The average out-of-pocket cost for a smoker in Minnesota is $3,263 a year, which is the 46th highest cost in the nation. In Minnesota there is also an added $3,740 health care cost per year due to smoking related illnesses. The average income lost for being a smoker in this state is $5,625 a year.

See the full Wallethub study online, and if you are trying to quit, you got this! This is your year!

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