It costs $295,000 to raise a child in NC from birth to 18. How does the state compare nationally?
Children are priceless, but that’s not to say that raising them doesn’t come at a cost — and a hefty one at that.
Rising inflation and an impending recession have increased the cost of raising a child for 18 years in the United States to more than $300,000, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The figure comes from a study by the Brookings Institution, a research group in Washington, D.C.
The data was calculated using expenditures associated with the cost of such food, transportation, childcare, school, and extracurricular activities. Also considered are health care costs and clothes — all over the course of 18 years, according to Brookings.
It’s been almost five years since the cost of raising a child was last surveyed by the United States Department of Agriculture. In 2017, published data in a report entitled “Expenditures on Children by Families Report” where the costs from birth to adulthood were pegged at $233,610 for children born in 2015.
Brookings updated the findings to account for current inflation rates, the Wall Street Journal reported.
How do the costs of raising a child in North Carolina compare to the national average?
Researchers from LendingTree, an online lending marketplace headquartered in Charlotte, used data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey, the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to determine the costs in each state, including D.C.
According to LendingTree’s 2021 analysis, North Carolina ranked as the 44th most expensive state to raise a child, with an annual cost of $16,444, or $295,000 over the span of 18 years.
North Carolina was followed by Michigan, Georgia, West Virginia, Arkansas, Kentucky, Alabama, and Mississippi. Costs in those states range from $13,596 in annual costs to $16,203.
The District of Columbia takes first place as the most expensive state to raise a child in with an annual expenditure of $28,785, or $518,000 over the span of 18 years.
The annual expenditures are calculated based on a married, two-earner couple that makes the 2019 U.S. median of $77,263 in income and has one child, according to LendingTree.
This story was originally published August 22, 2022 at 1:56 PM with the headline "It costs $295,000 to raise a child in NC from birth to 18. How does the state compare nationally?."
