Australia
The cost of smoking in Australia
Australians pay more per cigarette than anyone else in the world, which makes the sum worth doing.
Written by Lee H. Last reviewed 24 August 2026.
Three things that make Australia different
- The price. Reported figures for a pack of 20 sit somewhere between about A$35 and A$55 depending on brand and retailer. That is a wide spread, and it is why the rest of this page asks you to use your own receipt.
- It rises on a schedule. Tobacco excise is indexed to average weekly ordinary time earnings and rises twice a year, in March and September. Additional scheduled increases have applied on top of that indexation in recent years. A price you worked out last year is already out of date.
- Packs of 25. Common in Australia and rare almost everywhere else. Any calculator that assumes 20 to a pack will misprice you, which is why the one on this site asks how many are in yours.
What it adds up to
Take a pack of 25 at A$50 and a pack a day. That is A$350 a week, about A$1,520 a month, and roughly A$18,250 a year. Ten years of that is a deposit on a house in most of the country.
Half a pack a day at the same price is still around A$9,100 a year. The numbers stay large a long way down, which is the thing that surprises people when they finally run them.
Those are examples. Your own figure depends on your brand, your state and what you actually smoke, and it is a better number than any average because it is the one that is really leaving your account.
The calculator takes a pack size as well as a price, so a pack of 25 is handled properly. It runs in your browser and nothing you type is sent anywhere.
The other cost
Money is the easier of the two numbers, and for a lot of people it is the one that finally lands. The harder one is time.
The best current estimate is about 20 minutes of life per cigarette, 17 for men and 22 for women, from Jackson, Jarvis and West in Addiction, 2025. A pack of 25 a day is a little over eight hours on that estimate: a working day, every day. That multiplication has a limit and the page on the 20 minute figure explains where it breaks down, but as a way to picture a single day it holds up.
The number that matters more is what stopping gives back, and there are published figures for that too. The quit smoking calculator gives you both.
The free help, before anything else
An app is a poor substitute for a trained counselor and this page is not going to pretend otherwise.
- Quitline, 13 7848. Free, staffed by trained counselors, and far more evidence behind it than any app.
- Your GP. Prescribed stop smoking medicines are available in Australia and a GP is the route to them.
- Quit.org.au and the state Quit services. Free tools and free support.
Take those first. Nothing on the rest of this site replaces any of them.
Prices on this page are examples drawn from public reporting, they change at least twice a year, and no guarantee is made or offered about the accuracy of any figure or calculation on this site. This page does not diagnose, treat or prevent any condition and is not medical advice. Talk to a doctor or Quitline about stopping smoking.
Keep reading
Where to go next
Cost of smoking calculator
Your pack price, your pack size, in money and time together.
What 500 cigarettes cost
25 packs, about a month, at every common price.
Quit smoking calculator
The years smoking has likely cost you, and the years quitting returns.
Smoking in the UK
Duty is the higher of two sums, and it rises by formula.
Smoking in New Zealand
Second only to Australia, with excise indexed to inflation.