Via Shutterstock.
Child-rearing is expensive. How expensive? Over a quarter of a million dollars, to be exact. The U.S. Department of Agriculture released their annual Expenditures on Children and Families report today, which, among other things, calculates the cost of raising a child.
According to the latest report, it’ll cost a middle-income family about $245,340 to raise a child born in 2013. Of course, that figure doesn’t account for inflation ($304,480 for projected inflation), but that’s how much a family can expect to spend on food, housing, childcare, education, and other expenses needed to raise a kid up to age 18, when they can leave the nest, go to college, become a millionaire, and then pay you back with interest.
To gather data for the report, the USDA takes data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey, which is “the most comprehensive source of information available on household expenditures.” Data from that report—mainly the annual costs of certain child-rearing expenses—is compared and contrasted to determine an accurate estimation of what a family will spend on a child born in 2013 during it’s lifetime. For 2013, the USDA estimates, a family will spend $12,800 to $14,970 on a child annually.
Of course, that number varies depending on the child’s age as well as the total family income. While a middle-income family (parents earning between $61, 530 to $106,540) can expect to spend $245,340 on raising a child, that number goes down for lower-income families. According to the report, a family earning less than $61,530 annually can expect to spend $176,550 to raise a child born in 2013, while a family that earns more than $106,540 annually can expect to spend nearly half a million dollars—$407,820 to be exact—raising a kid.
“In today’s economy, it’s important to be prepared with as much information as possible when planning for the future,” USDA Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Under Secretary Kevin Concannon said in a release. “In addition to giving families with children an indication of expenses they might want to be prepared for, the report is a critical resource for state governments in determining child support guidelines and foster care payments.”
Compared to last year’s report, the cost of raising a child increased by 1.8 percent from 2012. Other highlights from the report include that the costs are lower in the urban South and rural parts of the country ($230,610 and $193,590, respectively), while the highest costs are found in the Northeast ($282,480).
The report also found that the single most expensive expenditure for middle-income families is housing, with child care and education accounting for the second-largest expense. That’s followed by food costs. Growing kids need to eat.
