Show This To Pregnant Teens: Costs $226,920 To Raise One Child
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A middle-income family with a child born in 2010 can expect to spend about $226,920 to raise the child to age 18, according to a Department of Agriculture report. The cost grew 2 percent from last year, with the greatest share of the increase coming from transportation, child care, education, and health care.
The department has calculated the costs annually since 1960. The first year the report was issued, a middle-income family could have expected to spend $25,230 ($185,856 in 2010 dollars) to raise a child. Then and now, housing was the largest expense. Health care expenses have doubled as a percentage of total child-rearing costs. Some common costs today were insignificant in 1960, such as child care.
In 2010, per child annual child-rearing expenses for a middle-income, two-parent family range from $11,880 to $13,830, depending on the age of the child, based on data from the federal government‘s Consumer Expenditure Survey.
The total cost grew almost 40 percent from 2000, according to CNN.Money.com.
The report broke down the birth-to-age-18 costs for middle income families:
Housing, $69,660.
Food, $36,210.
Transportation, $30,900.
Clothing, $13,200.
Health care, $18,420.
Child care/education, $39,420.
Misc. $19,110.
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