What’s the Cost of Raising a Child and Becoming a Parent

Last Revised on August 11, 2009

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There is cost to everything, including to become a parent and raise a child. Being a parent can be expensive, so how much you will have to spend on your kid through age 17? We will list you the expected price tag that you will pay because finally there is a study done by U.S. Department of Labor in part of its Consumer Expenditure Survey. The tables below shows the cost of raising a child in both the single parent family as well as by a dual-parent family.

We should disclose that the estimated annual cost of raising a child until they are 18 years old is retrieved from the study done by US Department of Agriculture. The USDA have been updating this report since the year 1960 with the objective helping state governments decide and design child support and foster care payments rules and regulations. But the main idea behind this report is to help families plan on saving money for their child’s education.

so What are the Cost and Expenses of Raising a Child these days?

Here are the latest spending numbers we got:

For Single-Parent Family

Age of Child	Housing	Food	Transportation	Clothing	Health	Child care/ Education	Miscellaneous	Total

0 to 2	2,240	1,010	730	330	220	530	380	5,440
3 to 5	2,550	1,060	640	350	330	720	500	6,150
6 to 8	2,710	1,340	740	410	390	650	670	6,910
9 to 11	2,600	1,550	530	420	490	310	540	6,440
12 to 14	2,600	1,550	620	710	520	400	520	6,920
15 to 17	2,760	1,690	970	830	520	300	600	7,670
Total	46,380	24,600	12,690	9,150	7,410	8,730	9,630	118,590

In a Dual-Parent Family

Age of Child	Housing	Food	Transportation	Clothing	Health	Child care/ Education	Miscellaneous	Total

0 to 2	2,500	910	780	370	460	840	630	6490
3 to 5	2,470	1,010	750	360	440	820	680	6,630
6 to 8	2,380	1,300	880	400	510	560	680	6,710
9 to 11	2,150	1,560	950	450	560	340	720	6,730
12 to 14	2,400	1,640	1,070	750	560	240	900	7,560
15 to 17	1,940	1,780	1,440	660	600	400	660	7,480
Total	41,520	24,600	17,610	8,970	9,390	9,990	12,720	124,800

Both the above data were collected for families with income of 39,000 per year before paying taxes and it doesn’t include the childbirth and college expenses.

As we can see from the data that one third of the total costs are on housing. All the cost have been varying based on the location where the family lives and their annual income they bring home. Urban areas Northeastern part of the United States is the most expensive place to raise a child followed by Midwest. Cheapest areas to raise a kid are southern rural areas.

Most single parent households as well as two-parenting family has annual income less than $57,000 and if that’s the case for most families in the United States, then the cost of raising a child is about $160,000 excluding college expense.

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