Where does the money go when raising a child?

Housing is the biggest category at 29% (about $67,747), followed by food at 18%, child care and education at 16%, transportation at 15%, health care at 9%, miscellaneous at 7%, and clothing at 6%.

Is it cheaper per child to have more children?

Yes. The USDA found an only child costs about 27% more than a child in a two-child family, while families with three or more children spend about 27% less per child.

Family money · updated Oct 12, 20266 min read

How much does it cost to raise a child?

Q: How much does it cost to raise a child?

The USDA's final report (2015 figures) puts a middle-income married couple with two children at $233,610 from birth through age 17. Lower-income families averaged $174,690; higher-income $372,210. The figure excludes pregnancy, delivery, and college.

The number everyone quotes is $233,610. It comes from the federal government, it is a decade old, it excludes college, and it is still the best-measured answer available. Here is the full breakdown: the income bands, the regions, the categories, and the parts the number leaves out.

$233,610

Birth through age 17, middle-income married couple with two children, in 2015 dollars. Source: USDA, “Expenditures on Children by Families, 2015” — the final edition of the annual federal report.

What the $233,610 actually measures

The figure comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Expenditures on Children by Families report, published with 2015 data. For decades the USDA released this report annually, built on the federal Consumer Expenditure Survey — the most comprehensive record of what American households actually spend. The 2015 edition was the last one the department published, which is why every article you read still cites a number measured in 2015 dollars.

Three things about the measurement matter. First, it covers birth through age 17 — eighteen years of spending, not eighteen birthdays. Second, it excludes two large items: the costs of pregnancy and birth, and anything after 17, including college. Third, the headline case is specific: a married couple with two children at a middle income. Change any of those and the number moves, which is exactly what the rest of this page prices.

The report itself projected the same child forward with 2.2% annual inflation, arriving at $284,570 in nominal dollars over the eighteen years. That projection is the report’s own answer to “yes, but in today’s money” — worth knowing, because every year that passes without a new federal report makes the 2015-dollar figure more of an understatement.

The income bands: $174,690 to $372,210

Family income moves the total more than anything else. The report sorted married-couple families into three bands by before-tax income and priced the younger child in a two-child family for each:

Income band (before-tax)	Total, birth to 17
Lower — under $59,410	$174,690
Middle — $59,410 to $107,820	$233,610
Upper — over $107,820	$372,210

Source: USDA, “Expenditures on Children by Families, 2015”, via contemporary reporting (Daily Southtown/AP, The Food and Environment Reporting Network).

Notice what the bands imply: the gap between lower and upper is more than two-to-one. But the report’s authors were careful to note that spending on necessities — food, clothing, basic health care — varied far less across incomes than spending on discretionary items. The upper-income total is not a richer version of the same childhood; it is a childhood with more discretionary spending layered on top. The floor of the number is more stable than the ceiling.

Where the money goes

For the middle-income family, the eighteen-year total breaks into seven categories. Housing dominates, and that fact quietly shapes everything else on this page:

Category	Share	Dollars of $233,610
Housing	29%	$67,747
Food	18%	$42,050
Child care & education	16%	$37,378
Transportation	15%	$35,042
Health care	9%	$21,025
Miscellaneous	7%	$16,353
Clothing	6%	$14,017

Category shares: USDA 2015 report; dollar figures are the shares applied to the $233,610 middle-income total.

Two details deserve attention. First, the USDA measured housing as the cost of an additional bedroom — a deliberately conservative method, because it does not capture families who pay a premium to live near better schools. If anything, the housing line understates reality for families in competitive school districts. Second, child care and education has been the fastest-growing category for decades: in 1960 it was 2% of the total; by 2015 it was 16%. The modern cost of raising a child is, to a remarkable degree, the modern cost of someone watching the child while the parents work.

The regional spread: $193,020 to $253,770

Where the family lives moves the middle-income total by nearly a quarter. The report priced the same middle-income, two-child family across five regions:

Region	Total, birth to 17
Urban Northeast	$253,770
Urban West	$235,140
Urban South	$221,730
Urban Midwest	$217,020
Rural	$193,020

Source: USDA, “Expenditures on Children by Families, 2015”, via AP reporting.

The report attributes most of the regional gap to two categories: housing, and child care and education — both highest in the urban Northeast and lowest in rural areas. Transportation runs the other direction, highest in the urban West and rural areas where distances are longer. The full regional analysis is its own story: the cost of raising a child by region.

Siblings: the second child is the cheapest

The report’s most useful finding for family planning is the sibling math. Compared with a child in a two-child family, an only child costs about 27% more — every fixed cost lands on one small head. Families with three or more children spend about 27% less per child. Bedrooms are shared, clothes are handed down, toys are communal property, and food is bought in bulk. The second child is, per dollar, the cheapest person you will ever add to a household.

What the number leaves out

The $233,610 is a floor with a specific shape, and the missing pieces are large. Pregnancy and delivery are excluded — the birth alone averages about $3,000 out of pocket for families with employer insurance (Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker). College is excluded entirely. The figure is in 2015 dollars, and the report’s own inflation projection put the nominal total at $284,570. And the childcare line reflects 2015 prices for a service whose national average has risen 29% since 2020 alone (Child Care Aware of America, 2024 analysis). Every one of these pushes the real number up, not down.

The new insight

The USDA’s number is a per-capita accounting, not a marginal cost — the report says so itself, at length. It divides household spending by heads; it does not measure what the household would have spent without the child. That distinction matters most in housing, the biggest line: the method prices an extra bedroom, but many families would have wanted the larger home anyway, or were already paying for the school district. The honest way to read $233,610 is not “this is what the child extracts from you” but “this is what the life the child arrives into costs, divided by the people in it.” The true marginal cost — what you would not have spent otherwise — is smaller than the sticker. Which also means the sticker is most useful as a planning number, not a verdict: it prices the eighteen-year commitment at the scale of a household budget, where it belongs.

Run your own number

The federal figures are averages; your family is not. Our Cost of Raising a Child Calculator takes the USDA baseline and adjusts it for your income band, your region, and your number of children — then adds your first year, your childcare arrangement, and the invested alternative, all on one slip. The number is only useful once it is yours.

Sources

U.S. Department of Agriculture, “Expenditures on Children by Families, 2015” (final edition; archived full report) — all headline totals, income bands, regional figures, category shares, and sibling factors.
Associated Press / Daily Southtown, “USDA: Cost of raising a child tops $233,000” — income-band and regional figures as reported.
The Food and Environment Reporting Network, “Cost of raising a child drops by 5 percent in two years” — sibling factors and report context.
Child Care Aware of America, “Child Care in America: 2024 Affordability Analysis” — 2024 national childcare average and five-year trend.
Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker — ~$3,000 average out-of-pocket birth cost with employer insurance, via 2025 reporting.

Posted at the bottom of the page

How much does it cost to raise a child in 2026?: The latest federal measurement is $233,610 in 2015 dollars (USDA, final 2015 report). The report’s own inflation projection put the same child at $284,570 in nominal dollars, and childcare — 16% of the total — has risen 29% nationally since 2020. Any honest 2026 figure starts above $284,570.
Does the $233,610 include college?: No. The USDA figure covers birth through age 17 and explicitly excludes pregnancy, delivery, and all post-17 expenses including college. Add a four-year public university and the eighteen-year picture changes completely.
Why is housing the biggest cost of raising a child?: The USDA prices housing as the cost of an additional bedroom — 29% of the middle-income total, about $67,747. The method is conservative: it does not capture families paying premiums to live near better schools.
Is the USDA report still published?: No. The 2015 edition of “Expenditures on Children by Families” was the last. No newer federal replacement exists, which is why the 2015-dollar figure is still the one every article cites.