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.
Nothing you type leaves this page. The math happens on your own device, and none of it is stored or sent anywhere. See the privacy page for what the site records. The answer is an estimate built from population averages and gives no medical advice: the limits are below, and the full math is on the methodology page.
This one gives you a single answer. To see how that answer changes over the years after quitting, use the life expectancy calculator. For what smoking costs in money, use the cost of smoking calculator.
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 the calculator gives for a pack a day
Before you type anything, here is what it produces for the most common history there is: twenty a day, started at 18, quitting today. Every figure is the calculator's own output.
| Quitting at | Years lost so far | Share recoverable | Years you get back | Never comes back |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | 2.83 | 99.5% | 2.82 | 0.01 |
| 40 | 5.19 | 88.5% | 4.60 | 0.60 |
| 50 | 7.56 | 59.0% | 4.46 | 3.10 |
| 60 | 9.52 | 39.0% | 3.71 | 5.81 |
The fourth column peaks at 40 and then falls, and it is the wrong column to read. A man quitting at 40 gets more years back than one quitting at 30, because twenty-two years of smoking left him far more to recover from. Read the last column instead. That is the part no amount of staying quit ever returns, and it goes from about four days at 30 to nearly six years at 60. The years you get back peak in your forties. The years you keep only ever fall.
The same table on ten a day
Halving the habit comes close to halving the cost at these volumes.
| Quitting at | Years lost so far | Years you get back | Never comes back |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | 1.42 | 1.41 | 0.01 |
| 40 | 2.60 | 2.30 | 0.30 |
| 50 | 3.78 | 2.23 | 1.55 |
| 60 | 4.96 | 1.93 | 3.02 |
A woman reads larger figures throughout, because the measured rate is 22 minutes a cigarette against 17 for a man. On twenty a day since 18, quitting at 40, the loss is 6.72 years against 5.19 for a man, and the recoverable total is 5.95 against 4.60. The life expectancy calculator shows the same history as a forecast, and the age pages work one case through in full.
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.
- 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 estimate for the part of the curve nobody has measured.
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. No guarantee is made or offered about the accuracy of any figure or calculation on this site. 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 math, including a worked example, is on the methodology page.
Does the calculator send my information anywhere?
No. The calculation happens on your own device. Nothing you type is stored, sent or shared, and the privacy page sets out what the site does record.
Is this medical advice?
No. This is a motivational estimate built from population averages. For medical advice, talk to a doctor. 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?
Jha et al. published bands (roughly 90% recoverable for ages 35 to 44), so the calculator interpolates smoothly between the midpoints of those bands. 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.
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.
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, and it is extrapolation past what 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 math behind these numbers, see how the estimate is calculated.