True cost
How Much Does It Cost to Raise a Child Per Year?
The price right now
$17,000.00 — per child per year, low end of the USDA baseline (this page's math uses this conservative figure)
- $17,000.00 · USDA baseline, low end
- $22,850.00 · SmartAsset 2024-adjusted estimate
Prices as of July 2026. Two credible estimates disagree by about $5,850 a year, and both are on this page. The USDA figure is its 2015 study inflation-adjusted; the 2024 analyses rebuild the assumptions. Neither includes college.
Sources: USDA — Expenditures on Children by Families (2015 base: $233,610 to age 17), inflation-adjusted · SmartAsset 2024 analysis — $22,850 per child per year
What it really costs per year
| Cost item | Per year | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| USDA baseline, per year | $17,000 | $17,000–18,800 a year, inflation-adjusted from the USDA's $233,610-to-age-17 study. Across seventeen years that is roughly $310,000–332,000 per child. USDA — Expenditures on Children by Families (2015 base: $233,610 to age 17), inflation-adjusted |
| The 2024-adjusted estimate | $22,850 | SmartAsset's 2024 figure — $5,850 a year above the USDA low end, or an extra 190 hours of median-income work every year. SmartAsset 2024 analysis — $22,850 per child per year |
| Where the money goes | varies | Housing is the largest single share in the USDA's category breakdown, followed by childcare and education, then food, transport and healthcare. USDA — Expenditures on Children by Families (2015 base: $233,610 to age 17), inflation-adjusted |
| Childcare — the widest fork | varies | Families paying for full-time care land far above the baseline; families with a parent at home or free family care land far below it. This one line explains most of the gap between the estimates. |
| What the estimates leave out | varies | Both figures stop at age 17. College, and everything after it, sits entirely outside the $310,000–332,000 headline. |
| Total per year | $17,000 | USDA baseline low end, per child per year — the conservative figure. 551 hours of median-income work, or 13.8 work weeks; at the federal minimum wage, 2,345 hours against the 2,080 a full-time year contains. |
The price in hours of your life
The same yearly figure, converted into working time — one year of owning this costs you:
| Income level | Hourly | Hours of work / year | Work weeks / year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Federal minimum wage | $7.25 | 2,345 | ≈ 58.6 |
| Median US full-time income | $30.83 | 551 | ≈ 13.8 |
| Higher incomeexample | $50.00 | 340 | ≈ 8.5 |
Sources: US DOL — federal minimum, unchanged since 2009 · BLS Usual Weekly Earnings, Q1 2026 — median weekly earnings $1,233 ÷ 40h
Prefer to start from your side of the math? Calculate your exact hourly rate first — it's remembered for the session.
One child, more than a working year
The number everyone quotes is the total — $310,000 to $332,000 to age 17 — and it is so large it stops meaning anything. Per year it is $17,000–18,800 on the USDA baseline and $22,850 on the 2024-adjusted reading. Priced in hours it becomes legible: 551 hours a year at the median US income, about fourteen work weeks. At the federal minimum wage the same child costs 2,345 hours a year, and a full-time working year contains 2,080 — which is the entire childcare debate compressed into one number. Over seventeen years, at the median income, a child is roughly five full-time working years.
For
- Housing is the largest category, and most of it is a marginal difference rather than a new bill — you were already paying rent
- The costs are heavily front-loaded: they fall sharply once childcare ends, so the expensive part is a few years, not seventeen
- The figure is per child, and second children measurably cost less through shared housing, hand-me-downs and bulk buying
Against
- $17,000–18,800 a year on the USDA baseline, or $22,850 on the 2024-adjusted reading — 551 to 741 hours of median-income work
- At the federal minimum wage a single child costs 2,345 hours a year, more than a full-time working year contains
- The $310,000–332,000 headline stops at 17: college is not in it
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to raise a child per year?
$17,000–18,800 a year on the USDA's inflation-adjusted baseline, or $22,850 on SmartAsset's 2024 analysis. Across seventeen years the USDA figure works out to roughly $310,000–332,000 per child.
How many hours of work is a child per year?
About 551 hours at the median US income of $30.83 an hour, 340 hours at $50 an hour, and 2,345 hours at the federal minimum wage — more than the 2,080 hours a full-time working year contains.
Why do the estimates differ so much?
Base year and childcare assumptions. The USDA figure is a 2015 study carried forward with inflation; the 2024 analyses rebuild the assumptions from current data. Whether a family pays for full-time childcare is the single widest fork in either estimate.
What is the biggest cost of raising a child?
Housing, according to the USDA's category breakdown — largely the cost of a bigger home rather than a separate bill. Childcare and education come next, and they are what pushes individual families far above or below the average.