Children keep getting more expensive to raise – fashion is pricier and so are doctor visits and day care, according to the U.S. government, BLOOMBERG reports.
At least food’s still relatively cheap.
The cost for a middle-income family to raise a child born in 2015 to age 18 is $233,610, a 3 percent increase from the previous year, the Department of Agriculture said Monday. Housing was the largest expense, at 29 percent of the cost. Wealthier families, who live in costlier neighborhoods and are more likely to use day care, spend more than twice as much on their children as poorer households.
The USDA has prepared the report almost every year since 1960. It tracks seven categories of spending, including housing, transportation and clothing, and is used to help courts and government agencies estimate child-support costs. It excludes payments for college, as well as financial contributions from sources other than parents, including government aid. Read more at BLOOMBERG.
