Quarter of a million dollars to raise a kid
Source: Agencies |
June 16, 2012, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
IT takes a bundle of cash to raise a bundle of joy in the United States. New parents can expect to spend more than a quarter of a million dollars raising a child, according to a government report issued on Thursday.
A middle-class family with a child born in 2011 can expect to spend about US$234,900 in the next 17 years on food, shelter and other necessities. And that's before a family adds in the cost of college.
The cost comes to about US$295,560 with projected inflation factored in, and represents a 3.5 percent jump from the cost outlook in 2010, the US Department of Agriculture said in its report.
For Melissa Hutsell, 40, of Little Rock, Arkansas, a mother of six boys ages 3 to 15 years old, the economic side of parenting at times can seem staggering. With total household income around US$50,000, Hutsell said her family relies on a lot of hand-me-down clothing, home schooling and tight budgeting.
"We definitely live on less than we could use," Hutsell said. "The thing that takes the biggest chunk is groceries. If you don't have a lot of money but a lot of kids, you have to figure out how to spread it further and thinner."
The annual report, developed by the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion and based on data from the US Consumer Expenditure Survey.
The report said geographic variations in the cost of raising a child, with expenses the highest for families living in the urban Northeast, followed by the urban West and urban Midwest.
(Reuters)
A middle-class family with a child born in 2011 can expect to spend about US$234,900 in the next 17 years on food, shelter and other necessities. And that's before a family adds in the cost of college.
The cost comes to about US$295,560 with projected inflation factored in, and represents a 3.5 percent jump from the cost outlook in 2010, the US Department of Agriculture said in its report.
For Melissa Hutsell, 40, of Little Rock, Arkansas, a mother of six boys ages 3 to 15 years old, the economic side of parenting at times can seem staggering. With total household income around US$50,000, Hutsell said her family relies on a lot of hand-me-down clothing, home schooling and tight budgeting.
"We definitely live on less than we could use," Hutsell said. "The thing that takes the biggest chunk is groceries. If you don't have a lot of money but a lot of kids, you have to figure out how to spread it further and thinner."
The annual report, developed by the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion and based on data from the US Consumer Expenditure Survey.
The report said geographic variations in the cost of raising a child, with expenses the highest for families living in the urban Northeast, followed by the urban West and urban Midwest.
(Reuters)
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