Middle-income U.S. parents of a child born in 2008 can expect to spend $291,570 for food, shelter, and other necessities to raise that child over the next seventeen years, up from the 1960 low-low price tag of $25,230, and $204,060 in 2007, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
According to the USDA’s report, Expenditures on Children by Families (2008), providing housing represents the largest expenditure in raising a child, averaging $69,660 or 32 percent of the total cost over the seventeen year period. Food and child care/education were the next largest expenditures, averaging 16 percent of the total cost. Transportation -- driving the kids here-and-there -- accounted for 14 percent of the cost.
USDA notes that the cost estimates in the 2008 report did not include the medical costs associated with childbirth, and that some of the highest modern-day costs, such as child care were “negligible” in 1960.
The More you Have, the More you Spend
The report also notes that total family income affects the cost of raising a child. A family earning less than $56,870 per year can expect to spend a total of $159,870 on a child from birth through high school. Similarly, middle-income parents with an income between $56,870 and $98,470 can expect to spend $221,190; and a family earning more than $98,470 can expect to spend $366,660.
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