While the joy of raising a child is priceless, the actual dollars and cents cost of it all is sharply on the rise, a new study shows.
A study released this month by LendingTree, an online loan company took into account seven factors when it came to calculating the cost of a child: food, rent, child care, apparel, transportation, health care premiums and tax exemptions. They did not include non-essential things like sports, after-school classes and other enrichment activities.
In today’s market, the estimated cost of raising a child from birth to age 18 in the U.S. is $237,482, according to Lending Tree.
In 2021, the most recent data available, the average cost of essential expenses for a child — things like child care, clothing and food — totaled $21,681, according to Lending Tree. Five years earlier, in 2016, that cost was $18,167.
Mississippi is the least expensive state in which to raise kids, according to Lending Tree, coming in at an average of $15,555 per year.
Two other states in the South — Alabama and Arkansas — follow Mississippi closely in being the cheapest places to parent in the U.S, with an average cost of $16,192 and $16,284, respectively.
While Hawaii is considered paradise for its beauty and weather, it ranked as the most expensive state to raise a child, at an average cost of $30,506 per year, and a total of $314,529 over 18 years, according to Lending Tree.
Washington, D.C., ranked as the second most expensive place for parents, with an average cost of $30,097 per child per year. The state of Washington came in third most expensive with an average cost of $28,116 per year.
Survey questions, methodology and results have not been verified or endorsed by ABC News or The Walt Disney Company.