Raising a child comes with a long list of expenses, from childcare to additional groceries. But how much does that add up to over 18 years? LendingTree did a survey, published by CBS News, that shows the price tag at $303,418, or an average of $16,857 per year. It’s the first time the figure has topped $300,000 since LendingTree began the analysis in 2023 and is up about 2 percent from a year earlier.
The calculation is based on the typical expenses for a couple earning the U.S. median family income, about $100,000, while accounting for offsets from tax incentives. Because the analysis ends when a child turns 18, it does not include the cost of college, another major expense for parents. With the average cost of a U.S. college education at about $38,000 a year, that could add another $152,000 to the total.
American families are feeling the financial strain of raising children, with a CBS News poll in February finding that 77 percent of respondents believe it is harder to raise a family today than it was for previous generations. A previous LendingTree study found many parents were unprepared for the added costs, with some going into debt to pay for childcare and other expenses.
“The cost of raising a child for 18 years has climbed to more than $300,000, and that steady rise puts tremendous strain on Americans’ budgets,” Matt Schulz, LendingTree’s chief consumer finance analyst, said in a statement.
As with most expenses, location matters. Costs in three states — Alaska, Kansas and Montana — jumped more than 20 percent from a year earlier, while Hawaii is the most expensive state to raise a child, with families expected to spend $412,661 in 2026, LendingTree found. The cost in Utah is $277,000, about midway in the pack.
Here are the most expensive states to raise a child to the age of 18:
1) Hawaii
2) Maryland
3) Massachusetts
4) California
5) New Jersey
6) Washington
7) Colorado
8) New York
9) District of Columbia
10) Connecticut
Infant child care is estimated to cost $17,264 in 2026, or $572 less than a year ago. LendingTree estimates it costs an average of $29,325 per year to raise a child in the first five years, down 0.3 percent.
However, the total cost to raise a child from birth through high school graduation represents a major expense, given that the median household income in 2024 was $83,730. The price tag for child-rearing now approaches the median sales price of a home in the U.S., which was $356,000 as of Jan. 31, according to Zillow. Researchers tapped 2024 data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics, as well as from a variety of other government, nonprofit and academic sources.