Expand / Collapse search
☰

It now costs nearly 300K to raise a child; here’s where it’s most expensive

By
Published  April 1, 2025 7:33pm EDT
Family
Fox TV Stations

Watch: Trump's answer on fixing child care crisis

At an Economic Club of New York forum, Donald Trump was asked what he would do about the child care crisis. Economists and activists later called his answer an "incoherent word salad" and "incomprehensible at best.'

The Brief

    • Raising a child now costs nearly $300K over 18 years, with a 25% increase due to higher expenses in child care, food, and health insurance premiums, according to a new study.
    • Hawaii is the most expensive state for raising a child, with costs surpassing $362K over 18 years.
    • Costs are lowest in states like Mississippi and South Carolina, where annual expenses are under $18K, while Wyoming saw the largest increase in costs.

A new study reveals just how expensive it’s gotten to raise kids.

LendingTree analysts looked at the annual costs of raising a child, factoring in child-specific and household expenses like child care and rent.

Raising a child costs nearly $300K

By the numbers:

The data found that the cost of raising a child has surged 25%, reaching a staggering $297,674 over an 18-year period.

Among the tracked categories, day care costs jumped the most since 2023, rising 51.8% from $11,752 to $17,836. Food (29.6%) and health insurance premiums (25%) followed.

Meanwhile, the value of federal tax credits shrunk by a significant 44.4%. In their 2023 report, tax credits removed $3,600 from the total costs due to the temporary 2021 expansion of the Child Tax Credit, but that figure has returned to $2,000 in the latest report.

In addition, the study showed that the annual costs associated with raising a small child (from food and apparel to transportation and child care) were $29,419 — up 35.7% since the study was last conducted in 2023.

What they're saying:

"No one should be surprised that costs have risen in recent years, but the type of growth we’ve seen in child care costs is on a whole other level," Matthew Schulz, a LendingTree analyst, said. "There are plenty of reasons for the growth, including inflation, growing labor costs and rising demand. However, whatever the reason, this growth is making an already challenging aspect of parenthood that much worse."

Hawaii is most expensive state to raise child

By the numbers:

LendingTree found that Hawaii had the highest 18-year cost ($362,891). Most notably, the difference in typical food spending between a two-person household and a two-person household with a child was highest here, costing couples an additional $2,481. Additionally, the difference in rent when factoring in a child was the second-highest by state, adding $4,944 in costs. Hawaii also has the third-highest day care costs ($22,585) and transportation costs ($3,305).

A father walks hand-in-hand with his daughter. (Credit: Robert Alexander/Getty Images)

Massachusetts and Washington follow at $33,004 and $32,418, respectively. 

What they're saying:

"While families in these states have some of the highest incomes in the country, they’re also three of the most expensive states to live in," Schulz continued. "Higher overall income doesn’t always equate to more expendable income, so it’s important to make sure high-income people are planful and thoughtful with their budgets, too."

States with highest/lowest 18-year costs associated with raising child

  1. Hawaii
  2. North Dakota
  3. Washington
  4. Maryland
  5. Alaska
  6. Wyoming
  7. Connecticut
  8. California
  9. New Hampshire
  10. Massachusetts
  11. New Jersey
  12. Minnesota
  13. New York
  14. Virginia
  15. Colorado
  16. Vermont
  17. Idaho
  18. Arizona
  19. Florida
  20. Tennessee

See the full report here.

Costs lowest in Mississippi, South Carolina

By the numbers:

Conversely, the data found that annual costs were lowest in Mississippi ($16,490), South Carolina ($17,699) and Alabama ($17,870).

Only six states have infant day care costs of less than $10,000 annually, guiding them to the lowest overall annual expenses.

Wyoming sees biggest increase in costs; DC sees decrease

Wyoming saw the biggest increase in 18-year costs, up 47.9%, followed by North Dakota (44%). 

Just three states saw a decrease in 18-year costs: the District of Columbia (7.5%), Oregon (4.9%) and North Carolina (0.8%).

"Most Americans are on a budget and don’t have a ton of wiggle room from month to month," Schulz added. "When a big cost like child care shoots up by 40%-plus, it can be a real crisis. That extra money has to come from somewhere, so it forces families to make some difficult decisions."

Rising costs of raising a child

The study backs up other studies that show child care costs are rising. 

RELATED: Child care now costs more than a mortgage, study finds

In fact, a recent study found that child care costs are now outpacing inflation, with the typical American family barely affording both a house and child care in most of the country’s largest cities. 

But Zillow’s analysis found that a mortgage payment and child care now taking up at least 66% of an average household’s monthly income in 31 of the 50 cities analyzed. 

The Source: The information for this study was provided by LendingTree, which used various data sources to calculate the average annual costs associated with raising a small child in a two-earner household in each state and the District of Columbia. Their calculations incorporated expenses for rent, food, day care, apparel, transportation and health insurance premiums. Dependent tax benefits — whether exemptions or credits — were subtracted from expenses to create the average annual cost to raise a child by state. This story was reported from Los Angeles.

FamilyMoneyPersonal FinanceNews