The Cost of Raising Children

Posted by Alex in Baby & Kids, Money & Finance on February 3, 2008 at 4:06 am


MSN Money has a table showing the cost of raising a child to the age of 18, based on a survey by the US government from 1990-92 (in 2001 dollars):

The cost (red box is my edit) of $249,180 didn’t even include the cost of sending them to college, or approximately 1/5th of gross income. If you have two kids, like me, that’s roughly half a million dollars! (obviously not counting that elusive multiple-kids discount that other parents have been telling me about)

If you look closer at the numbers, a number of things are waaaay off base now, like the cost of healthcare and childcare. I wonder if they’ve done a more recent study, but I think I already know the answer.

Link - via Ray Fowler

And of course, the cost of raising kids would be A LOT higher if they did this.



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COMMENT

15 comments to "The Cost of Raising Children"

  1. kevin
    February 3rd, 2008 at 5:11 am

    its interesting to see how this study perfectly depicts how modern day measures can grossly misportray things that far exceeds its own span in terms of existence

  2. Miss Cellania
    February 3rd, 2008 at 6:44 am

    A lot of the expense in the red box reflects choice. It does not neccessarily have to cost twice as much to raise a child in a rich family as it does in a not-rich family.

    The child care expenses may SEEM way off, but it is skewed by the many many families who don’t pay for daycare, either because they don’t use it, or grandparents provide it at no cost.

    Healthcare is definitely screwy. It appears that they surveyed people with health insurance, yet didn’t factor in the cost of the insurance itself.

    Watch out, Alex. Anecdotal evidence from everyone I know says it costs twice as much to feed a boy (compared to a girl) til he leaves home!

  3. Ray Fowler
    February 3rd, 2008 at 7:32 am

    Alex - Thanks for the link!

    Miss Cellania - As a father of three boys ages 16,14,and 11, I will be glad to add to the anecdotal evidence. Our food bill has gone way up since our two oldest hit their teens, much more than the chart would indicate. (And the third is not far behind!)

  4. Geekazoid
    February 3rd, 2008 at 8:46 am

    Doesn’t it depend also on where you live

  5. ryan
    February 3rd, 2008 at 10:12 am

    I don’t quite understand the childcare column…Unless I send my kid (2yo) to the ‘daily shootings’ area (I live in Miami), basic daycare is on the order of $600+ A MONTH. Three times the figure they have.

  6. Dougall
    February 3rd, 2008 at 10:28 am

    I believe the numbers. That’s what you take on when you have kids! If most of your time and treasure is not devoted to them you are an idiot.

    Too many times I have seen parents who treat kids as an annoyance and an imposition in their life. Kids are the greatest joy and the greatest challenge you can take on, and they are eminently worth it.

    By the way if you lived in Canada as I do (or lots of other civilized places) the health care cost would be zero! To our American cousins: get a grip on your health care - there are better ways. I can’t imagine wondering if I should take my child to the hospital to have an ear infection treated because I might not be able to afford it.

  7. L
    February 3rd, 2008 at 3:48 pm

    The health care cost is not zero in Canada, Dougall. I don’t know what weird parallel universe province you’re living in. Unless you’re really poor, you’ll get a bill for health insurance from the government. In my province, it’s $54 dollars per month. Of course, the per-person cost goes down if you have a family… but even then it’s not free!

    They should show charts like these in the sex ed classes in schools… oops. Do they even teach sex education anymore?

  8. Alex
    February 3rd, 2008 at 4:06 pm

    @Miss Cellania: Don’t I know it - Ziggy drinks milk like there’s no tomorrow. VERY different from Maddy, who’s has a more, shall we say restrained, appetite.

    @ryan: I agree with you. The going rate for daycare in Southern California is $300 a week per child (infant and toddler, the price goes down as the kid gets older). I heard that the price is much higher in Northern California.

  9. Ben Rushing
    February 3rd, 2008 at 4:11 pm

    Penn and Teller have talked about how numbers can easily be skewed here are some examples:

    Housing: Irrelevent you already pay for it.
    Transportation: Irrelevent a couple of extra gallons of gas are all you have to pay for.

    Education: Irrelevant you pay for this through tax dollars.

    Childcare: Irrelevent this is a choice.

    Health: Irrelevant some parents actually avoid immunizations and modern medicine (don’t ask me why)

    Miscellanious: Toys are optional, you could always buy them from goodwill.

    The only things that do matter here are: Clothing, which you can also buy from goodwill.

    The total cost per year was only: $13,844
    Take out the optional and it was: $1127 per year

    We have it real good in America. Immagine living in a non developed country with children. We as Americans are spoiled and still find time to complain.

  10. VonSkippy
    February 3rd, 2008 at 4:12 pm

    I guess I’m old school, my two pricey little Uni going princesses are my retirement fund, and I tell them that every time they ask me for money!

  11. Jacki
    February 3rd, 2008 at 7:16 pm

    The funds for Canada’s “free health care” doesn’t grow magically on a tree…

    Taxes! D:

  12. G
    February 4th, 2008 at 12:06 am

    I dunno, things are different in our house…

    We spend less since having her for some reason. Having a very active child under two will get you outside to play all day instead of buying home entertainment or expensive equipment she’ll eventually break. It also encourages us to fix whatever we’ve got instead of buying new.

    I’m old school too. I gave back to my parents after leaving the house. My first paycheck, I fixed their house…hopefully my kids will do the same?

  13. Sid Morrison
    February 4th, 2008 at 11:32 am

    Hah hah, enjoy your “Free” healthcare! You get what you pay for!

    The chart is interesting, but as others have mentioned, a lot of it is choice. Unless you are a single parent, you really don’t need to send your kids off to babysitting (i.e. daycare, pre-school, childcare, whatever feel-good you want to call it).

    It IS possible for one parent to stay home whilst the kids are young (at least) to care for them. Yes, you might need to scale back the mommy & daddy toys and trips a little, but the kids will be a lot smarter from the attention and less sickly from the constant immersion in daycare germs.

    In any event, stop whining about how the government should provide you with free healthcare, babysitting, schooling, &c. They are YOUR kids — YOU are responsible for their well-being and future. Don’t schlep if off on the backs of others. Know what you are getting into when you have kids (they are well worth it), but shoulder the responsibility yourself.

  14. Bret
    February 4th, 2008 at 8:25 pm

    $840 a year for child care? That’s s joke, right?

  15. oakling
    February 16th, 2008 at 11:46 pm

    Anecdotal evidence, pah! I am a chick and after I left for college (with my mother and father and teenage brother and sister still at home) I was shocked to come back for a visit and find that the refrigerator and cupboards were nearly bare compared to how much food they had to stock just to feed my growing appetite. and every one of us was high-metabolism skinny-to-normal build. It’s all individual.


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