OBJECTIVES: Depressed socio-cultural and economic groups tend to smoke more than the others. We aimed to determine socioeconomic level related aspects of the smoker’s profile who intends to stop smoking. METHODS: A total of 1634 smokers older than 18, attended by General Practitioners and Specialized Physicians in Spain, were included in a multicentric cross-sectional survey study performed in February-June 2007. After being asked about their intention of smoking cessation, all of them were determined to or had taken some action to quit smoking within the previous 15 days. Socio-demographic data, taking into account socio-economic indicators, history of smoking and reasons to stop smoking were collected. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed. RESULTS: The analysed population included 1618 subjects from 167 centers fulfilling all the selection criteria. Their mean age was 45.6 ± 12.0 and 56% were men. The majority (67.8%) had studied beyond high school and most of them (76.0%) were active workers. Daily mean cigarette consumption during working days was 20.7 ± 9.9. Mean annual expenses for cigarettes reached €961.5 ± 442.3 and the median expense was €876, although significant differences (p<0.0001) within gender, age groups, educational level, work situation and geographic area were observed. Men older than 46-65 years showed the highest expense, regardless of their income; and unemployed workers spent more than active workers on tobacco. A mean annual expense for cigarettes higher than 1500 € was associated with a higher use of smoking cessation treatments (p=0.0009). However, less than 0.9% of smokers wanted to stop smoking due to economic reasons. CONCLUSIONS: Smokers who want to quit smoking spend annually a mean of €961.5 (median of €876) on cigarettes, although there are significant differences within socio-demographic profiles. The higher the expenses for cigarettes are, the higher the expenses for smoking cessation treatments reach.