PHOENIX — For many Americans, the cost of raising a child from birth to 17 may now exceed $300,000.
Back in 2015, the US Department of Agriculture released a report on the costs of raising a child. The numbers were adjusted for inflation two years later and a middle-income family would have expected to pay over $230,000. With annual inflation spiking since 2020, the cost has gone up.
The Brookings Institution along with the Wall Street Journal updated the numbers from the Department of Agriculture report to account for higher inflation. They found that a married, middle-income family will now pay an average of $310,605 to raise a child that was born in 2015. The cost averages $18,271 a year.
The original report from the Department of Agriculture breaks down the extra costs involved with raising children into seven categories. The need for extra room at home is considered the biggest extra expense so housing costs make up about a third. Food comes out to 18%, child care and education is 16% followed by transportation at 15%. Health care, miscellaneous expenses and clothing are all under 10% respectively.
Brookings and WSJ looked at the annual inflation rates of all the categories for a child born in 2015 and accounted for increased annual inflation from 2.2% to 4% after 2020. At birth, Brookings estimates that the cost of the child would be just under $15,000. By the time they reach the age of 17 by 2032 costs have risen to almost $25,000.
First-year expenses can be daunting for a middle-income family. A separate study by Lending Tree that uses 2021 dollars estimates that it would cost an Arizona two-earning family about $18,000 in first-year expenses. The largest chunk which accounts for well over half of the first-year child expense is infant day care. The couple will also be expected to shell out an additional $2,500 in insurance premiums, $2,200 in transportation, and about $1,700 for food. Rent is the lowest expected increase in this instance.
The numbers by Brookings and the WSJ do not include college tuition. The original Department of Agriculture report estimates that higher-income families will pay significantly more while people with incomes under $60,000 should pay about eighty-thousand dollars less.
