Cost of Raising a Child in the U.S. Approaches $500,000, New Study Finds
For the first time in history, the projected cost of raising a child from birth to age 18 in the United States has climbed to $471,948, just shy of the half-million-dollar mark, according to a new study from Birth Injury Lawyer analyzing childcare costs, income data, and state-level affordability.
The figure, calculated from 2025 SmartAsset data using the MIT Living Wage Calculator, reflects a 4.5% increase over 2024 and outpaces national inflation. It also stands six times higher than the $81,604 median U.S. household income reported by the Census Bureau’s 2024 American Community Survey.
“The conversation around the cost of raising a child usually focuses on what families spend. The more consequential question is what they give up,” said a spokesperson for Birth Injury Lawyer, which compiled the study. “Delayed homeownership, depleted retirement savings, long-term career interruptions, these are simple facts of life for American parents. And as child-rearing costs rise, it’s a scenario that can’t continue.”
Housing and food drive the bulk of costs
Housing accounts for the largest share of annual child-rearing expenses at 31% ($154,800 over 18 years), reflecting the added space, school-district premiums, and lost home-office square footage a child requires. Food follows at 18% ($89,892 over 18 years), with healthcare (11%, $54,936), childcare and education (11%, $52,476), transportation (10%, $49,932), miscellaneous costs (8%, $39,942), and clothing (6%, $29,970) rounding out the seven-category breakdown.
Notably, childcare costs shift dramatically by age, from $27,745 during the full-time daycare years (ages 0-4) down to just $6,942 during adolescence, when extracurricular fees replace daycare bills.
The study also found that direct spending is only part of the picture. TIAA research cited in the report shows a woman earning $60,000 annually who exits the workforce to care for a child could forfeit up to $100,000 in retirement savings, assuming a 7% rate of return.
Where you live matters — but not the way you’d think
The study ranked states by child-rearing costs as a share of median household income. Vermont topped the list, where $38,272 in annual child-rearing costs consume 46.3% of the state’s median income. Connecticut (43.5%) and Massachusetts (42.2%) — the most expensive state in raw dollar terms at $44,221 annually — rounded out the top three.
Mississippi has the lowest raw annual cost at $19,178, but the study cautions against reading that as straightforward affordability: against the state’s $59,127 median income, that figure still represents 32.4% of household earnings. Only Georgia (26.6%) and South Dakota (27.5%) combined below-average costs with strong enough median incomes to produce genuine affordability.
A 185% increase in 25 years
The report traces the total cost of raising a child from $165,630 in 2000, to $233,610 for a child born in 2015, to today’s $471,948 — a 185% increase in roughly a quarter-century. Daycare and preschool costs alone rose 28% between January 2015 and April 2025, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The financial pressure is now cited as the top reason Americans are limiting family size, according to the American Family Survey, the first time in the survey’s 11-year history that finances have outranked all other factors. The U.S. general fertility rate has fallen to a record low of 53.1 births per 1,000 women aged 15-44, down 23% since 2007.
The study recommends prospective parents build an emergency fund covering three to six months of expenses and begin saving early: a $500 monthly contribution from birth, at a 6% rate of return, could grow to roughly $199,000 by college age, compared to just $64,000 if savings begin in fourth grade.