These Are The Most And Least Expensive Places To Raise Kids

The average annual cost of raising a child in America is nearly $21,000, according to a study by financial information provider SmartAsset, which analyzed 381 metro areas across the country.

But it’s much more than that in the Bay Area. In fact, five of the top 10 most expensive metros to raise children are in California, which has notoriously high housing costs.

In San Francisco, raising a child costs $35,647 a year — close to double the national average. San Jose isn’t far behind, with the annual cost at more than $33,000.

The top 10 cheapest metro areas are all in the southern US, which has seen an influx of people escaping more expensive states, including California and New York, during the pandemic.

“As the cost of childcare continues to rise, families are finding it increasingly difficult to afford to live comfortably and are looking for ways to cut costs,” said Jaclyn DeJohn, SmartAsset’s managing editor of economic analysis.

Childcare itself costs an average of $9,051 a year, the study found, and accounts for nearly half of the annual cost of raising a child. The study also considered the costs of food, housing, healthcare and other necessities when a two-adult household adds a child to the mix, which is calls the “marginal additional cost” of having a kid.

Surprisingly, the study found that childcare in Detroit and Trenton, New Jersey, costs about $3,500 more per year than in the New York City metropolitan area, roughly a 25% premium.

“While metros such as Detroit and Trenton do have some cost advantages over the NYC metro area, that’s not the case when it comes to childcare,” said DeJohn.

Conversely, the most affordable places to have children in America are in the south. Five of the 10 metro areas where costs are lowest are in South Carolina. Morristown, Tennessee ranks as the least expensive, with an annual cost of $14,577.

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