And that doesn't count college.
, a nonprofit public policy organization, estimates that a married, middle-income couple with two children would spend $310,605 — an average of $18,271 annually — to raise their younger child born in 2015 through the age of 17. The estimate covers a range of family expenses, including housing, food, clothing, extracurricular activities, and health and child care, to name a few.
“A lot of people are going to think twice before they have either a first child or a subsequent child because everything is costing more,” Dr. Isabel Sawhill, a senior fellow at Brookings, toldThis staggering rise in cost of raising a child could also disproportionately affects lower-income families, single-parent families, and Black families, according to Dr. Sawhill.