# Approximately how much does a parent (or parents) spend on their child (or on each child) until 18? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 2, 2012, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-how-much-does-a-parent-or-parents-spend-on-their-child-or-on-each-child-until-18/620626 "2012-05-02T11:50:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sheriru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Sheriru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sheriru)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-how-much-does-a-parent-or-parents-spend-on-their-child-or-on-each-child-until-18/620626/1 "2012-05-02T11:50:15Z")
How much money does a parent spend raising a child? Hundreds? Thousands? Millions? Billions? Five thousand wallets worth? Approximation can be (money amount) to (money amount). I’m just curious how much money is involved in raising a kid. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-how-much-does-a-parent-or-parents-spend-on-their-child-or-on-each-child-until-18/620626/2 "2012-05-02T12:36:14Z")
> **[Cost of raising a child](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_raising_a_child)** > > The cost of raising a child varies from country to country. > The cost of raising a child is usually determined according to a formula that accounts for major areas of expenditure, such as food, housing, and clothing. However, any given family's actual expenses may differ from the estimates. For example, the rent on a home does not usually change when the tenants have another child, so the family's housing costs may remain the same. In other cases, the home may be too small, in which case the fami... ---
**Author:** ![GiantRat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@GiantRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GiantRat)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-how-much-does-a-parent-or-parents-spend-on-their-child-or-on-each-child-until-18/620626/3 "2012-05-02T14:26:53Z")
A fairly recent article in Money magazine (I can dig it out, if necessary) indicated that the $250k figure was the statistical average in the US. But then… college comes into play, and you can count on spending at least another $40k (public school) or $200k (private school). Soooo glad I haven’t procreated (to the best of my knowledge). ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-how-much-does-a-parent-or-parents-spend-on-their-child-or-on-each-child-until-18/620626/4 "2012-05-02T14:34:08Z")
Maybe it’s because I live in rural Illinois, but I spent nowhere near $250,000 raising my daughter. We had the house anyway, so I don’t think I can count that. The cost for dependent insurance where my husband worked was the same whether it was just a spouse or a spouse and ten kids, so that didn’t change. She didn’t eat that much. Sure, she wasn’t free: piano lessons, riding lessons, clothes, doctors, medicine, school fees and supplies, sports, but it wasn’t $14,000 a year. Perhaps it’s different in a big city. ---
**Author:** ![zoltar7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b38774/32.png) [@zoltar7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoltar7)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-how-much-does-a-parent-or-parents-spend-on-their-child-or-on-each-child-until-18/620626/5 "2012-05-02T15:18:57Z")
USDA Expenditures on Children by Families page, including interactive calculator: [http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/ExpendituresonChildrenbyFamilies.htm](http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/ExpendituresonChildrenbyFamilies.htm) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-how-much-does-a-parent-or-parents-spend-on-their-child-or-on-each-child-until-18/620626/6 "2012-05-02T15:34:32Z")
All of it. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-how-much-does-a-parent-or-parents-spend-on-their-child-or-on-each-child-until-18/620626/7 "2012-05-02T15:37:36Z")
The differences tend to be based upon the income of the parents. Higher income earning parents spend more on their kids than lower income earning parents. Not rocket science. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-how-much-does-a-parent-or-parents-spend-on-their-child-or-on-each-child-until-18/620626/8 "2012-05-02T15:53:16Z")
If you have to ask, you can’t afford one. The $250,000 figure sounds low for my family. It’s hard to separate costs, of course, but that is less than $15K a year. I think I spent more than that on gas for soccer practice and games. Then we went through the Abercromby and Fitch phase. T-shirts alone cost that much I seem to remember. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-how-much-does-a-parent-or-parents-spend-on-their-child-or-on-each-child-until-18/620626/9 "2012-05-02T16:30:23Z")
> [@Pai325](#): > > Maybe it’s because I live in rural Illinois, but I spent nowhere near $250,000 raising my daughter. We had the house anyway, so I don’t think I can count that. The cost for dependent insurance where my husband worked was the same whether it was just a spouse or a spouse and ten kids, so that didn’t change. She didn’t eat that much. > > Sure, she wasn’t free: piano lessons, riding lessons, clothes, doctors, medicine, school fees and supplies, sports, but it wasn’t $14,000 a year. Perhaps it’s different in a big city. This is the accountant in me, I suppose, but I think more people need to understand that “cost” is not the same as “spent.” If you inherit a $10 million mansion, you have spent nothing to acquire it… but your cost to acquire housing is still $10 million. And if having a child means not selling the mansion to invest the proceeds, you have an opportunity cost, which is the difference in gains between the house and the other investment options. (You didn’t say that you inherited the house, but the same thinking applies; it doesn’t cease to be a cost just because it wasn’t an out of pocket expense.) ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-how-much-does-a-parent-or-parents-spend-on-their-child-or-on-each-child-until-18/620626/10 "2012-05-02T17:00:41Z")
“Need Answer Fast” ---
**Author:** ![iftheresaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecae2f/32.png) [@iftheresaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iftheresaway)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-how-much-does-a-parent-or-parents-spend-on-their-child-or-on-each-child-until-18/620626/11 "2012-05-02T18:12:15Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > This is the accountant in me, I suppose, but I think more people need to understand that “cost” is not the same as “spent.” If you inherit a $10 million mansion, you have spent nothing to acquire it… but your cost to acquire housing is still $10 million. And if having a child means not selling the mansion to invest the proceeds, you have an opportunity cost, which is the difference in gains between the house and the other investment options. (You didn’t say that you inherited the house, but the same thinking applies; it doesn’t cease to be a cost just because it wasn’t an out of pocket expense.) Can you elaborate on this a bit? I don’t think I really understand. I think when most people ask how much it will cost to raise a kid, they mean “how much extra will I spend vs. if I didn’t have a kid?” Is this a fundamentally different question than asking about the cost of a child (it seems like you’re saying yes)? What’s the utility of understanding cost in that way? For example, my husband and I have owned our home for five years, and while we are about to have our first child, before learning that I was pregnant we had no plans to sell the house and invest the proceeds. So we’re not spending extra on the mortgage payments to have a kid the way someone who bought a new place specifically to have room for kids would have. (I think you could make an argument about the utilities, as we did choose a larger -although not more expensive - house in order to have more room for kids). Can you explain how the cost vs. spend thing works in this scenario? ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-how-much-does-a-parent-or-parents-spend-on-their-child-or-on-each-child-until-18/620626/12 "2012-05-02T18:44:35Z")
> [@iftheresaway](#): > > Can you elaborate on this a bit? I don’t think I really understand. I think when most people ask how much it will cost to raise a kid, they mean “how much extra will I spend vs. if I didn’t have a kid?” Is this a fundamentally different question than asking about the cost of a child (it seems like you’re saying yes)? What’s the utility of understanding cost in that way? > > For example, my husband and I have owned our home for five years, and while we are about to have our first child, before learning that I was pregnant we had no plans to sell the house and invest the proceeds. So we’re not spending extra on the mortgage payments to have a kid the way someone who bought a new place specifically to have room for kids would have. (I think you could make an argument about the utilities, as we did choose a larger -although not more expensive - house in order to have more room for kids). Can you explain how the cost vs. spend thing works in this scenario? I think the value of this definition of cost in the big picture is mainly useful when you want to compare two people. If you’re a middle-class American who already has a paid-off home, the marginal cost (i.e. additional spending) to have a child is not all that much - let’s say $50,000 over 18 years. Now, let’s say you start a charity to help poor families and you approach your fundraising by saying “All we need is $3,000 a year per kid!” Well, that’s not going to be right. The poor family hasn’t already paid for the home, and $3,000 a year won’t even cover half the mortgage, let alone food, clothes, utilities, etc. To get a poor person into the middle class requires a lot of spending; spending on things the middle class might not pay any attention to because they already have it. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-how-much-does-a-parent-or-parents-spend-on-their-child-or-on-each-child-until-18/620626/13 "2012-05-02T19:44:08Z")
I didn’t think they were talking about opportunity cost, which is my mistake. I was thinking of out of pocket expense. I have a degree in accounting, but stayed home with my daughter until she was in seventh grade. I then took a lower paying job that had hours that let me be home more than an accounting job would. If you want to put that cost in as well as the related reduction in retirement income, it’s much more than $250,000. However,although it is impossible to put a cost on this, the benefits to staying home and being the room mother, and the Scout leader, and just being with her were immeasurable, so that negates any cost at all as far as I’m concerned. Since opportunity cost is so difficult to quantify, and emotional cost or benefit even more so, I went with out of pocket expense. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-how-much-does-a-parent-or-parents-spend-on-their-child-or-on-each-child-until-18/620626/14 "2012-05-02T23:01:24Z")
And remember the $250 K figure is an average . I spent over $70,000 in tuition for my two kids from Pre-k to 12th grade- and they didn’t go to particularly expensive schools. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-how-much-does-a-parent-or-parents-spend-on-their-child-or-on-each-child-until-18/620626/15 "2012-05-03T02:18:11Z")
Oh, GAWDDDDD… ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![TheBori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ee7513/32.png) [@TheBori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBori)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/approximately-how-much-does-a-parent-or-parents-spend-on-their-child-or-on-each-child-until-18/620626/16 "2012-05-03T12:58:06Z")
It’s better that you don’t know. - TheBori: father of four boys.