Even after the applicable credits and exemptions, the average cost to raise a child up to age 18 has now surged over $300,000 for American households, making the decision to start a family more daunting than ever when finances are top of mind (which, in the present economy, they of course are).
This year marks the first time in more than a decade of tracking that expenses are the primary reason would-be parents in the U.S. are pressing pause on having kids — and, it’s no wonder, given the latest numbers from LendingTree.
The loan marketplace released a new batch of research this week outlining how child-related spending has spiked in recent years, examining the price of things like day care, clothing, health insurance, food, transportation and rent, measured as the difference in average monthly rates between homes with and without children, nationwide.
The findings, unfortunately, don’t instill much confidence in those hoping to one day expand their brood.
The headline figure from the report is an average of $303,418, or around $16,857 per year (1) to bring up a child on American soil, which is 1.9% higher than just a year ago. And, this is actually modest compared to similar reports from other parties that cite numbers further over the $300K mark (2).
Guardians in certain parts of the country have it especially tough, with the year-over-year change in child-rearing costs soaring well above the national average to as high as 27.4% in some states (Nebraska being the worst, followed by Montana, Maine, Wisconsin and Utah), topping out at as much as $412,661 per year. Hawaii is currently the most expensive state in which to start a family, followed by Alaska, Maryland, California and New Jersey.
Even factoring in those locales on the lower end of the spectrum — such as New Hampshire, where taking care of a kid through to age 18 sits at about $201,963 — the average parent in the U.S. is devoting a devastating 21.9% of their total income to bringing a child into the world during that child’s first few years of life, according to LendingTree.
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Oddly enough, it is actually during those early years where expenses are generally lessening, albeit slightly: LendingTree reports spending on a child up to the age of five — the priciest era of a child’s life — is actually down 0.3% from last year, largely due to an approximately 3.2% dip in infant care fees.
The areas where parents are dishing out far more lately, though, outweigh these welcome-but-marginal cost reductions.
Per the analysis, which is based largely on federal government data from 2024 alongside some more recent stats from other agencies, the price of children’s apparel has escalated by 26.7% in one year’s time, while rent for American families is a staggering 48.9% higher than a year prior, on average.
Looking back further is even more disheartening, with a 27.8% jump in the overall cost of a child since the same study was conducted in 2023, when the rising cost of living was already at a crisis level and some residents were forced to trial some major life changes (3) to cope.
For parents grappling with balancing their finances right now, or worried about their plans for retirement in the future, the experts behind the research recommend the standard best practices of investing as much into savings as soon as possible — if you’ve got $8,000 saved, you’re ahead median (4) — along with gradually but consistently chipping away at debt, and lowering the proportion of your debt that is high-interest, if possible.
Sourcing out and utilizing any and all financial incentives available to you (5) as someone with a child or children, such as the new Trump accounts, as well as focusing on cutting down on unnecessary costs where you can (the newest high-tech, name-brand stroller may not be as much of a necessity as you think).
Also, explore alternative options for things like child care, which becomes less exorbitant when split with other families via nanny shares or brought in-house — and, can be brought down to $0 if you find that the cost of hiring someone else either outweighs one parent’s take-home pay or your household can afford the switch (6).
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LendingTree (1); Northwestern Mutual (2); Yahoo Finance (3); Bankrate (4); TurboTax (5); SmartAsset (6)
This article originally appeared on Moneywise.com under the title: It now costs more than $300,000 to raise a child in the US — here’s where expenditures are skyrocketing the most
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