Raising kids is most expensive in these metros–yes, the Bay Area made the list
If you have kids, or you're thinking about starting a family, then you already know how big of a role money plays in parenthood.
A new study by Creditnews Research analyzed the living wages for dual-income households with children and without. What they found may not come as a surprise.
A household with two income streams and no children would need to earn a combined income of $64,229 a year to cover basic expenses. This number increases to $91,608 with one child, $114,898 with two, and $133,197 with three children.
"Families with kids have to bring in at least six figures in most major metropolitan areas just to get by—let alone eating out, traveling, and spending on other entertainment," Creditnews Research Senior Analyst Sam Bourgi wrote.
Five metropolitan areas in California are considered the most expensive to raise kids, and two are right here in the Bay Area. San Francisco and San Jose made the list, along with San Diego, Oxnard and Los Angeles.
Because the study examined metropolitan areas, San Francisco's metro included Oakland and Berkeley, while San Jose's metro included the cities of Sunnyvale and Santa Clara.
So how much does it cost to raise a kid?
The study found that the mean annual cost of raising a child across the United States’s 100 most populous metros is approximately $22,989 yearly, or $413,810 until the child turns 18.
However, here in the Golden State, those numbers skyrocket. In San Jose, the average annual cost of raising a child is $37,305. In the SF metro, the cost is a bit higher: it lands at $37,340 annually.
So to raise a child in the Bay Area, parents are looking to shell out over $671,400 over their first 18 years of life. Those numbers don't even include higher education costs, since most kids don't start college until age 18.
If you're looking for a more affordable place to grow your family, you may need to head southeast. Mississippi, Kansas and Texas boast the most affordability when it comes to raising kids.
The costs of raising children have also grown with inflation. With back-to-school season in full swing, some parents are putting off paying bills or even buying groceries to cover school costs.
Childcare is also a large financial burden for young families. Research published by LendingTree shows that the cost of child care surged nearly 20% between 2016 and 2021, the latest year for which complete data is available. Annual expenses, excluding tax exemptions or credits, hit $21,681 in 2021, versus $18,167 in 2016, the data shows.
Another LendingTree study shows that about 75% of parents think that having and raising children has been far more expensive than they expected. In fact, more than half of parents — about 55% — admit to having gone into debt in order to pay for child-related expenses.
Check out the full lists below:
Most Unaffordable Metros
1. San Francisco, CA
2. San Jose, CA
3. Boston, CT
4. Bridgeport, CT
5. San Diego, CA
6. New York, NY
7. Oxnard, CA
8. Los Angeles, CA
9. Denver, CO
10. Honolulu, HI
Most Affordable Metros
1. Jackson, MS
2. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX
3. Wichita, KS
4. El Paso, TX
5. Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL
6. Memphis, TN-MS-AR
7. Knoxville, TN
8. Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR
9. Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC
10. Greenville-Anderson, SC
Fox Digital contributed to this report.
