Even if you don’t buy into the extremely high cost experts believe it now takes to raise a child from birth through their 18th birthday, it is hard to deny that cost of living expenses have went up not just for adults but also for their children.
According to a recently released report by the United States Department of Agriculture it is now $8,000 more expensive to raise a child than it was several years prior.
The study claims that a child born in 2011 will cost $235,000 to raise over a 17 year period, money that will go towards food, shelter and other basic necessities. The study does not account for inflation and other added expenses.
If the study is correct a 3.5% increase in the cost of raising a child has been witnessed in just a one year period.
The drastic increase over a short period of time is being blamed on several factors that include child care, transportation, the cost of food, rapidly increasing health care, food and housing expenses.
Middle-income families were quoted the higher $8,000 cost while the study also found that lower-income families can expected to pay $169,000 over the 17 year life span of their minor.
Upper-class families in the meantime are expected to spend $390,000 per child.
The cost of living per child has been estimated by the USDA since 1960. The first study by the agency found that the average cost to raise a child was just $25,000. Even if we adjust for inflation the cost per child at the time was still a lower $192,000.
