Cost of smoking calculator
This calculator works out the cost of smoking cigarettes at a given pack price, showing daily, weekly, monthly, yearly and ten-year totals from straightforward arithmetic on the figures entered. It does not follow a single official formula and gives no advice on whether to stop smoking. Free NHS stop smoking support exists for anyone who chooses to seek it.
How is the cost of smoking calculated?
The tool works out the cost of a single cigarette by dividing the pack price by the number of cigarettes in a pack.
It then multiplies that figure by cigarettes smoked a day for the daily cost, by seven for a week, and by 365.25 for a year.
The monthly figure is the yearly cost split into twelve, and the ten-year figure is the yearly cost multiplied by ten.
| Figure | Calculation |
|---|---|
| Cost per cigarette | Pack price divided by pack size |
| Daily cost | Cost per cigarette times cigarettes a day |
| Weekly cost | Daily cost times seven |
| Yearly cost | Daily cost times 365.25 |
| Monthly cost | Yearly cost divided by twelve |
| Ten-year cost | Yearly cost times ten |
The yearly total is presented as the estimated saving from stopping, because it is money that would no longer be spent on cigarettes at these prices.
This is an arithmetic estimate rather than health advice, and this tool does not recommend stopping smoking.
What would the cost be for an example habit?
Take 20 cigarettes a day with a pack of 20 priced at £16.60.
That is £16.60 a day, since one pack is smoked daily, which comes to £116.20 a week and £505 a month.
Across a full year it reaches £6,063, and over ten years £60,632.
Halving the amount smoked roughly halves each of those figures, on this arithmetic.
Common questions
How is the cost of smoking calculated?
This calculator divides the pack price by the number of cigarettes in a pack to get a cost per cigarette, then multiplies that by cigarettes per day for a daily figure. The daily figure is multiplied by seven for a week and by 365.25 for a year, and the yearly figure is divided by twelve for a month and multiplied by ten for a decade. This is an arithmetic estimate, not NHS guidance, and it counts only the price of the cigarettes.
What would the cost be for an example habit?
Take 20 cigarettes a day with a pack of 20 priced at £16.60. That is £16.60 a day, since one pack is smoked daily, which comes to £116.20 a week and £505 a month. Across a full year it reaches £6,063, and over ten years £60,632. Halving the amount smoked roughly halves each of those figures.
How much does smoking cost a year?
The figure depends on how much is smoked and the pack price. A 20-a-day habit at £16.60 a pack works out at about £6,063 a year, or £60,632 over ten years, on this arithmetic. This is an estimate rather than a recommendation to change smoking habits.
How much would I save by quitting?
The estimate equals the whole amount currently spent, because the yearly cost figure is money that would no longer be spent if smoking stopped. This calculator does not recommend stopping smoking; it only presents the arithmetic. Many people who do stop redirect the saved amount to other spending or to savings.
Does the cost include health effects?
No. This tool only counts the price of the cigarettes. The wider costs sometimes associated with smoking, such as insurance premiums or lost earnings from illness, are not included here, and this tool makes no claim about health outcomes.
Is stopping smoking support free on the NHS?
Local NHS stop smoking services offer free advice, and options such as nicotine patches, gum and licensed vapes are described by the NHS as improving the chances of quitting for good. A GP or pharmacist can direct a person to their local service. This tool does not itself recommend stopping smoking.
What pack size should I use?
The default is 20 cigarettes per pack, which is the standard pack size sold in the UK. For rolling tobacco, an estimate of cigarettes per pouch can be entered as the pack size, with the pouch price as the pack price, to produce a comparable figure.
Sources & Rate Verification
Rates verified against official statutory guidance on 6 September 2026.