Cost of smoking

How much could you save and what could you do if you stopped smoking?

Cost of smoking

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If you are a smoker, you’ll know smoking is expensive! Imagine how much money you could save if you stopped. We are not talking small amounts here – someone smoking a pack a day spends about $266 a week on cigarettes, which is over $13,800 each year.19

Someone who is earning the median hourly wage (in New Zealand this is $29.66 in 2023), would have to work for more than an hour just to earn enough to buy a packet of cigarettes. All that effort going up in smoke. Do you really want to spend your time working, just so you can smoke?

Calculate your cost of smoking

Cost of smoking calculator

Quitting smoking is like giving yourself a pay rise. Use this calculator tool to see just how much you could be saving in a week, month, year and in a lifetime once you go smokefree.

Heard enough? Want to quit? Why not start your smokefree life?

With the money saved from stopping smoking you could:

  • go on holiday
  • pay off some debts
  • buy a car
  • rent a bigger house, or pay more off your mortgage
  • treat yourself and your whānau to a nice meal – every week!

Compare the cost of smoking vs vaping

Considering using vaping as a way to quit smoking, but not sure about the cost? For most people, vaping costs about 10% of the cost of smoking. Use the calculator on Vaping Facts to see how much you could save.

Downloadable infographics

When you compare one with the other there’s no mistaking the better choice. A smokefree way of life provides a lot more than good health.

Click on a link below to download the tobacco pouch infographic​.:

 

 

Click on a link below to download the cigarette infographic​:​


A note on the different file types:

.jpg - this is an image file and you should use this if you wish to insert the image into a newsletter or on a website, for example

.pdf -  best if you want to use the infographic as a poster - it will give you better print quality

.doc - in this Word file the "call to action" can be edited to contain a logo and contact details, for example the details of your local stop smoking service

Page last updated: 11 Mar 2024

Giving up smoking is like getting a pay rise. In a year you can save over $8,000 if you smoke 20 cigarettes a day.

View more smoking facts & figures