Free tool · Australia
Smoking Calculator: Pack Years & Cost
Work out your pack years and what smoking actually costs you at Australian prices. A pack-year is one pack (20 cigarettes) a day for one year — doctors use it to estimate lifetime smoking exposure. This calculator also shows the dollars and the time you'd get back by quitting today.
Your pack-years
7.5
(15/day × 10 years) ÷ 20 per pack
Risk band
Lower range
Risk is real but lower than long-term heavy smokers. Quitting now keeps it that way — lung function rebuilds fast in the first year.
What it's cost so far
Spent to date
$123,188
Cigarettes smoked
54,750
Life lost (est.)
418 days
Based on 11 minutes of life expectancy per cigarette (Shaw, Mitchell & Dorling, BMJ 2000). It's a rough guide, not a diagnosis.
What you're spending now
Per day
$34
Per week
$236
Per month
$1,027
Per year
$12,319
If you quit today
In 1 year
$12,319
In 5 years
$61,594
In 10 years
$123,188
QuitCoach is free to start, and Pro is $19 a month — about 1 day of your current smoking spend.
Your recovery timeline
- 20 minutesHeart rate and blood pressure drop back toward normal.
- 12 hoursCarbon monoxide clears; blood oxygen returns to normal.
- 2–12 weeksCirculation and lung function improve — stairs get easier.
- 1–9 monthsCoughing and breathlessness ease as lungs clear.
- 1 yearHeart disease risk is about half that of a smoker.
- 10 yearsLung cancer risk roughly halves versus continuing.
How to calculate pack years (the formula)
The pack year formula is simple enough to do on the back of an envelope:
pack years = (cigarettes per day ÷ 20) × years smoked
- 20 a day for 15 years → (20 ÷ 20) × 15 = 15 pack years.
- 10 a day for 30 years → (10 ÷ 20) × 30 = 15 pack years.
- 40 a day for 5 years → (40 ÷ 20) × 5 = 10 pack years.
- Rollies: count each rollie as one cigarette unless you know your gram weight — roughly 1 gram of loose tobacco per cigarette.
- Quit and restarted? Add the smoking periods together and leave out the gap years.
The calculator above works this out for you, and also converts it into cigarettes smoked, dollars spent at Australian prices, and what changes if you stop today.
How much does smoking cost in Australia?
Australia has some of the highest tobacco prices in the world because of excise. At a pack price of $45 for 20 cigarettes, your current habit of 15 a day works out to $34 a day, $236 a week and $12,319 a year. Change the pack price above to match what you actually pay — prices vary between supermarkets, tobacconists and brands, and excise rises again each year.
Free help with the quitting part is available Australia-wide: Quitline on 13 7848 and every state service is listed on our quit smoking help page.
How to use these numbers
- Take your pack-years to your GP — it helps decide if low-dose CT lung screening is worth a conversation.
- Use the yearly spend as your quit budget: put it toward something you actually want.
- Pair it with a quit plan — see NRT, cold turkey, or prescription aids.
Limits of these estimates
Pack-years don't account for vaping, rollies (which often deliver more tar), passive smoke, or genetics. Costs assume today's pack price applied evenly across the years you smoked. Treat every number as a useful flag, not a verdict.