Cigarette Tax by State 2026: Every State Ranked

If you are looking up cigarette tax by state, the short version is a gap of $5.18 per pack: New York charges $5.35 in state excise tax, Missouri charges $0.17, and the average across the states is $2.06. This guide ranks all 50 states and Washington, DC, adds the federal tax, flags the 2026 changes and turns each state rate into what a pack-a-day habit pays in tax every year.

The short answer: highest and lowest state cigarette taxes

The most recent state-by-state table from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids lists an average state cigarette tax of $2.06 per pack. The spread around that average is large. The five highest-ranked jurisdictions are:

1. New York: $5.35 per pack (1st)
2. Maryland: $5.00 per pack (2nd)
3. Washington, DC and Rhode Island: $4.50 per pack each (tied 3rd)
4. Connecticut: $4.35 per pack (5th)

The five lowest are Missouri at $0.17 (51st), Georgia at $0.37 (50th), North Dakota at $0.44 (49th), North Carolina at $0.45 (48th) and a tie between Idaho and South Carolina at $0.57 (46th). The data come from the CTFK table of state cigarette tax rates and rank, which was printed on 9/18/2026. Thirteen of the 51 jurisdictions in the table tax cigarettes at $3.00 per pack or more.

These are excise rates, the tax built into the price of every pack, not the full shelf price. If you want the total, see our guide to how much a pack of cigarettes costs in each state.

Cigarette tax by state: all 50 states and DC ranked

This cigarette tax by state table sorts every jurisdiction by state excise tax per pack. The last two columns show the average retail price with all taxes and the share of that price that the state excise tax makes up (our arithmetic: state tax divided by CTFK retail price). Ties share a rank in the CTFK table.

CTFK describes the retail price as including all federal and statewide excise and sales taxes, but not purely local taxes. The one exception is New York City, where the $1.50 per pack city tax is factored into the New York State price. The price column is based on The Tax Burden on Tobacco (2024 edition) plus reports of later state tax increases, adjusted by CTFK for retailer discounts, promotions and coupons.

The federal cigarette tax on top of every state rate

Every pack also carries a federal excise tax. The CTFK table lists the federal rate at $1.01 per pack, last increased on 4/1/2009. The rule itself is written per thousand cigarettes: the Code of Federal Regulations sets small cigarettes at $50.33 per thousand for removals from April 1, 2009 onward (27 CFR 41.32, see the regulation text). Divide by 1,000 and multiply by 20 and you get $1.0066, which rounds to the $1.01 per pack in the table.

So the tax floor in the lowest-taxed state is about $1.18 per pack ($0.17 state plus $1.01 federal), while in New York it is about $6.36 ($5.35 plus $1.01). At the all-state average of $10.15 per pack, the average state tax of $2.06 is about 20.3% of the price and the federal tax is about 10.0%, so roughly 30% of an average pack is these two excise taxes (our arithmetic on CTFK numbers; sales tax is extra).

Recent changes: what the table shows for 2026

Three jurisdictions in the CTFK table show a state cigarette tax increase dated in 2026:

• Hawaii: increase effective 1/1/2026, now $3.60 per pack (6th)
• Maine: increase effective 1/5/2026, now $3.50 per pack (8th)
• Utah: increase effective 7/1/2026, now $2.20 per pack (20th)

Two more increases landed in 2025: Indiana on 7/1/2025 (now $2.995 per pack) and New Jersey on 8/1/2025 (now $3.00). Earlier recent rises include Maryland and Colorado on 7/1/2024 and Rhode Island on 9/3/2024. CTFK also notes that 48 states and DC have implemented or passed 150 cigarette tax rate increases since 2002.

We are reporting only what the CTFK table lists. A state can change its rate after a table is compiled, so check your state revenue department before you rely on a rate for a budget or a business decision.

Local taxes and sales tax: what the state rate leaves out

The excise rate is only part of the bill. Several things sit outside the ranking above:

• Local taxes. The CTFK price column excludes purely local taxes, with the New York City exception noted above, where the city adds $1.50 per pack.
• Sales tax. According to the table notes, Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon have no state sales tax. Oklahoma has a state sales tax but does not apply it to cigarettes. Minnesota and DC apply a per-pack sales tax at the wholesale level. Alabama, Georgia and Missouri do not apply their sales tax to the part of the retail price that is the state cigarette excise tax.
• Tribal and military sales. CTFK notes that total national pack sales include cigarettes sold with federal but not state taxes collected, for example sales to Indian Tribes and to military bases.

That is why two states with similar excise rates can still sit a dollar or more apart on the shelf. For the carton view of the same data, see carton prices by state, and for how the picture looks outside the US, see cigarette tax by country.

How much of the pack price is tax

Dividing each state rate by its CTFK retail price shows how unevenly cigarette tax by state falls on smokers. In Maryland the state excise tax is about 37.1% of the average price ($5.00 of $13.47), in New York about 36.1% ($5.35 of $14.83) and in Rhode Island about 32.8%. At the other end, the state tax is about 2.1% of the price in Missouri ($0.17 of $8.01) and about 4.2% in Georgia.

Notice what that does to the bill. Moving from the lowest to the highest tax adds $5.18 to the state tax on a pack but only about $6.82 to the average retail price ($14.83 for New York against $8.01 for Missouri). Tax is most of the difference between the cheapest and the dearest state, though not all of it, because wholesale cost, markups and local factors differ too.

Does a higher cigarette tax make people quit?

The World Health Organization is direct about it. Its tobacco fact sheet states: “Tobacco taxes are the most cost-effective way to reduce tobacco use, especially among youth and low-income groups. Implementing strong tobacco taxes is proven to lower tobacco use.” WHO lists raising taxes as one of the six MPOWER measures. See the full WHO tobacco fact sheet.

The CTFK table is consistent with that picture, though it cannot prove cause. The ten highest-taxed jurisdictions (New York, Maryland, DC, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maine, Oregon and Vermont) have an unweighted average adult smoking rate of 9.2% in the table. The ten lowest-taxed (Nebraska, Tennessee, Virginia, Wyoming, Idaho, South Carolina, North Carolina, North Dakota, Georgia and Missouri) average 11.5%. Plenty of exceptions exist: Utah has the lowest adult rate in the table (5.7%) at a mid-range $2.20 tax, and West Virginia has the highest (17.8%) at $1.20. Income, culture and other policies matter too. For the rate in every state, see smoking rates by state.

Video: the case for tobacco taxes

This short video from the WHO European Region sets out five reasons public health bodies push for higher tobacco taxes.

The video comes from the WHO regional office for Europe, so its examples are international, but the logic applies to any state: price is one of the few levers that reaches people who do not otherwise engage with health advice.

What your state tax costs a pack-a-day smoker each year

A pack a day is 365 packs a year. Multiplying the state excise tax by 365 gives the annual state tax inside the habit (our arithmetic on CTFK rates, before sales tax and federal tax):

In the highest-taxed state, a pack-a-day smoker pays about $2,321 a year in state and federal excise tax alone. Add the manufacturer and retailer share, and the full yearly cost is far higher, which our guide on the true cost of smoking per year covers. The savings side is in how much money you save when you quit.

A number you can see tends to motivate more than one in a table. In iQuit, the money dashboard tracks what you have not spent, supports multiple currencies and lets you set savings goals, so you can watch the total grow. The app is free on Google Play and the App Store.

Method: where the numbers come from and what they do not cover

Every state rate, rank, date of last increase and retail price in this guide comes from the single CTFK table linked above, dated 9/18/2026, which covers all 51 jurisdictions. The federal rate matches the regulation text. Three limits apply:

• Excise only. The ranking is of the excise tax rate. It is not a shelf-price ranking and not a total-tax ranking.
• Vintage. Retail prices rest on 2024 data adjusted for later increases, so a state that raised its rate after compilation may already be higher.
• Derived figures. Shares of price, yearly totals and the group averages of smoking rates are our own arithmetic on the table, and the group averages are unweighted by population.

The 2026 in the title refers to the year of this guide; the data are labeled with the date on the source table.

Free help if the tax bill is your reason to quit

Price is one of the most common reasons people start thinking about quitting. If you are ready, the US government’s Smokefree.gov offers free quit planning tools. You can also talk to your doctor or pharmacist about medication. Nothing here is medical advice, and quit support is best when you combine a plan, a tool and a person.

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