Quit smoking calculator
Enter your age, sex and smoking history to see the years smoking has likely cost, and how many come back after quitting.
This runs entirely in your browser. The moment you finish typing, your browser does the arithmetic itself. Nothing you enter here is sent anywhere, stored, or seen by anyone, including us. This is a motivational estimate from population averages, not medical advice: see the limits below and the full methodology.
Your numbers
Your estimate
Average life expectancy for a 40-year-old man: about 78.59 years.
Estimated years lost to smoking so far: about 3.54 years.
Forecast if you quit today: about 75.05 years.
Forecast if you stay quit for good: about 78.18 years.
Enter a price per pack above to see money saved.
What this cannot tell you
- The baseline is not a never-smoker figure. The life table describes the whole general population, smokers included, so it is a slight underestimate of what quitting is really worth, not an overstatement.
- Anything past age 64 is extrapolation. Jha et al.'s published recovery bands stop at 64. Past that, the same slope continues and is floored, which is a reasonable way to extend an unfinished curve, not a measured result.
The figure above is a motivational estimate built from population averages. It is not a prediction about you, it does not diagnose, treat or prevent any condition, and it is not medical advice. Talk to a doctor or a quitline about stopping smoking. In the US, that is 1-800-QUIT-NOW.
Frequently asked
How does the quit smoking calculator work?
It starts from the US Social Security Administration's 2023 period life table for your age and sex, then applies the estimated cost of smoking from Jackson et al., Addiction, 2025, and the benefit of quitting by age from Jha et al., New England Journal of Medicine, 2013. The full arithmetic, including a worked example, is on the methodology page.
Does the calculator send my information anywhere?
No. The calculation runs entirely in your browser using JavaScript already loaded on this page. Nothing you type is sent to a server, stored, or shared.
Is this medical advice?
No. This is a motivational estimate built from population averages, not a prediction about any one person, and not medical advice. It does not diagnose, treat or prevent any condition. Talk to a doctor or a quitline about stopping smoking. In the US, that is 1-800-QUIT-NOW.
Why is the recoverable fraction at age 40 exactly 0.885, not 0.90?
Jha et al. published bands rather than a continuous curve (roughly 90% recoverable for ages 35 to 44), so the calculator interpolates between the midpoints of those bands rather than jumping at each birthday. Age 40 sits just past the midpoint of the 35 to 44 band, so interpolation toward the next band has already begun, which is why the figure is 0.885 rather than a flat 0.90.
Is the life expectancy figure specific to non-smokers?
No. It comes from a general-population life table that includes smokers and non-smokers together, described here as average life expectancy for someone of that age and sex. A true never-smoker baseline would be somewhat higher, so this figure is a conservative starting point, not an overstatement.
How accurate is this past age 64?
Jha et al.'s published recovery bands stop at age 64. Past that, the calculator continues the same slope and floors it, so quitting at 70 and quitting at 90 are treated the same. That is a reasonable way to extend an unfinished curve, but it is extrapolation, not something the study measured.
Sources
- US Social Security Administration, 2023 period life table, Social Security area population.
- Jackson, S. E., Jarvis, M. J. and West, R., "The price of a cigarette: 20 minutes of life?", Addiction, 2025 (doi 10.1111/add.16757).
- Jha, P. et al., "21st-Century Hazards of Smoking and Benefits of Cessation in the United States", New England Journal of Medicine, 2013.
For the full arithmetic behind these numbers, see how the estimate is calculated.