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

*Out-of-Pocket Cost per Smoker – $105,821 (Rank: 8th)

*Financial-Opportunity Cost per Smoker – $1,107,056 (Rank: 8th)

*Health-Care Cost per Smoker – $135,466 (Rank: 9th)

*Income Loss per Smoker – $481,982 (Rank: 15th)

*Other Costs per Smoker – $10,941 (Rank: 13th)

*Total Cost Over Lifetime per Smoker: $1,841,266

*Total Cost per Year per Smoker: $38,360

Idaho has made yet another top 10 list.

This one is far from glamorous, but things could be worse, especially for cigarette smokers in Washington, D.C.

A recent WalletHub study ranks Idaho as the ninth state in terms of how much money smokers spend and lose out on in their lifetime.

According to "The Real Cost of Smoking by State," an average Idahoan who smokes spends $1,841,266 on the habit in the course of his or her life.

That's $105,821 in out-of-pocket costs of cigarette purchases, more than $1.1 million in financial opportunity costs — calculated by the amount of return a person would have earned by instead investing that money in the stock market in the same period — and $135,466 in health care costs per smoker.

In a year, an average smoker in Idaho will spend more than $38,300 on the habit.

"I have worked in tobacco prevention and cessation for 14 years and greatly empathize with individuals in their journey to quit tobacco products," Panhandle Health District tobacco prevention and control coordinator Linda Harder told The Press. "We have made progress in reducing smoking rates. However, some of this has been offset by an increase in vaping, especially among youth."

Naturally, smokers in states with less expensive cigarettes will spend less. According to balancingeverything.com, D.C. has the highest cigarette tax by state at $4.50 per pack. Idaho averages $5.41 per pack total, including tax.

Other states high on the list with cheaper smokes are Georgia at an average of $5.39 per pack, Mississippi at $5.34 per pack and Missouri, which has the lowest national average price of $5.25 for a pack of cigarettes.

Accompanying D.C. at the bottom of the list are New York at an average of $12.85 per pack, Massachusetts at $9.95 per pack and Connecticut at $9.52 per pack.

Money isn't the only cost associated with tobacco products. The Centers for Disease Control cites smoking as the leading cause of preventable death.

More than 16 million Americans are living with a disease caused by smoking. For every person who dies because of smoking, at least 30 people live with a serious smoking-related illness.

In Idaho, a smoker will spend an average of $2,822 on health care in one year, according to the WalletHub research.

"Panhandle Health District offers several popular tobacco cessation programs including the 3-Call Program, a teen class and the Diaper Resource Program, which is an incentive program to encourage sustained quit after completing the 3-Call program," Harder said.

The 3-Call Program provides one-on-one coaching from a certified health educator and free nicotine patches, gum or lozenges as well as other helpful quitting tools.

Visit panhandlehealthdistrict.org/quitting-tobacco or email Harder at lharder@phd1.idaho.gov for help kicking the tobacco habit.

View the WalletHub study: wallethub.com/edu/the-financial-cost-of-smoking-by-state/9520z