The Cost Of Raising A Child Just Went Up & Here's What You Could Buy With That Money Instead
If Netflix's new rom-com Look Both Ways can teach us anything, it's that having a child can change your life — and that includes sucking up a lot of money you might've spent on a house, trips, clothing or many other things.
A think tank recently calculated the cost of raising a child until adulthood in the United States, and the price tag is at its highest point in decades due to inflation.
A middle-class income American family will spend an average of US$310,605 to raise a child born in 2015 to adulthood, according to the Brookings Institution. That includes expenses such as housing, food, clothing, health care, child care, activities, diapers, haircuts and many other common needs over 17 years.
The cost works out to roughly $18,271 a year, or 9% more than it was estimated to cost in 2020, per The Wall Street Journal.
The price tag for raising a child in Canada is a bit cheaper but not by much, with one CTV News estimate putting it at CA$281,880. In other words, you're still looking at a six-figure investment.
“A lot of people are going to think twice before they have either a first child or a subsequent child because everything is costing more,” Isabel Sawhill, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told the Wall Street Journal. “You also may feel like you have to work more.”
Yikes.
But what if you didn't have a child? We're not going to tell you what to do, but if you're planning out your next 17 years, here's what else you could spend that $300,000 on.
Buy a house
If you put that $18,000 per year into a mortgage instead of a child, you could buy (or at least partially pay for) a decent house in many different markets.
In San Antonio, Texas, you could splurge on a four-bedroom bungalow for $259,000, with an estimated down payment of $51,800 and a $1,221 monthly mortgage.
If you want the big city experience, you can buy yourself a studio apartment in Manhattan, New York City, for $284,000 with a $56,800 down payment and a $2,543 monthly mortgage.
Not bad!
Buy a car
If you’ve always wanted to splurge on your dream car, you could make that dream come true instead of spending your money on raising a kid.
According to one luxury car brands website, a typical Lamborghini is priced at around $200,000. So if you choose not to have a child, you could save up and get yourself a cool new whip in about 10 years.
If a Lamborghini is not your type, don’t fret because you could opt for a Model X Tesla with the Tri-Motor All-Wheel Drive for about $186,000.
And you don't even need to worry about space for a car seat.
Chase your dream job
Let’s say you hate your career and want to go back to school, study something new and change your life path.
That can be a scary and complicated move when there's a baby to feed at home, but when you're child-free, you have more cash and flexibility to put yourself first.
The average cost of attending a U.S. college is between $10,338 - $38,185 per year, according to US News. That's right in the same range as the annual cost of raising a child, so it's a pretty apples-to-apples choice.
If you want to aim high and go to an Ivy League school like Yale, you can expect to pay $57,700 yearly, which adds up to $230,800 for four years.
Take a trip
Parents are paying an average of $1,530 more per year to raise their kids than in 2020, according to the Brookings Institution data.
$1,530 may not sound like a lot, but it could be the difference between staying at home as full-time parents for the year or taking a week-long, all-inclusive holiday for two at a resort in The Bahamas.
Or, if you're feeling really adventurous, you could save up and take a more adults-only adventure like a trip to Spain's top nude beach. An experience like that becomes infinitely harder when you have kids.
We're not saying these are necessarily better choices than having a child — but just know that you have options!
An overview of Project MYRA.