Cost of raising a child drops by 5 percent in two years

Thanks to lower expected costs for housing, childcare and schooling, parents will pay nearly 5 percent less to raise a child born in 2015 to adulthood than if their offspring arrived two years earlier, according to the government. The pricetag is mind-boggling all the same, at $233,610 for recently born children vs $245,340 for children born in 2013.

Agriculture Undersecretary Kevin Concannon said the report “gives families a greater awareness of the expenses they are likely to face, and serves as a valuable tool for financial planning and educational programs.” The Expenditures on Children by Families report also is used by many state governments to determine child support and foster-care guidelines. A “cost of raising a child calculator” was available on the Internet.

Food, housing, and childcare and education are the three largest expenses facing families, accounting for more than 60 percent of the cost of raising a child. Estimated food costs for raising a child from birth to age 18 have risen since 2013 while housing and childcare and educational costs are down, according to USDA.

The estimated cost of $233,610 for a child born last year is a national average for a middle-income married couple with children. Costs are highest in urban areas in the U.S. Northeast, $253,770, and lowest in rural areas, where housing and childcare and education costs are lowest, $193,000. Upper-income families would spend an average $371,210, or more than twice as much as the $174,690 in estimated spending by a lower-income family.

Economist Mark Lino, author of the report, said there are significant economies of scale with children, who can share bedrooms, toys and clothing. Compared to a family with two children, a family with an only child will spend 27 percent more while families with more than two children pay 27 percent less on each child.

USDA’s estimated cost of raising a child born in 2013 was marginally higher than its estimate of $241,080 for a child raised in 2012.

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