What could you possibly love that costs on average $245,000 over 18 years? It must be something special.
The answer: a brand new baby.
That quarter of a million dollars needed to raise a baby born in 2013 does not include college expenses, which probably makes you dizzy just thinking what tuition and fees might be nearly two decades from now.
But that’s not all. The cost of caring for an infant in Illinois, among other health and environmental factors, makes it the worst state in the Midwest to raise a child–11th worst nationwide–according to a Wallethub.com report.
Illinois:
- Overall: 40
- Budget rank: 36
- Health Care for New Moms and Baby Rank: 32
- Baby-Friendly Environment Rank: 37
If you’re a new parent or plan to be, it would be wise to have sound financial plans in store, especially after seeing these numbers.
As mentioned, the national average is $245,340 for 18 years worth of child care, excluding college costs, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Here’s how those expenses break down:
- Housing and transportation: $107,970
- Child care and education: $44,400
- Food: $39,060
- Clothing/miscellaneous: $33,780
- Health care: $20,130
However, depending on where you live can make a big difference. Using the USDA calculator, you can narrow your search by U.S. regions and whether you live in a suburban/urban or rural area.
In order to make the comparisons uniform, the following calculations include the cost of raising one child less than one-year-old in a two-parent household, and does not include the cost of college. The variables are pre-tax annual income and whether you live in a suburban/urban or rural community.
Urban/suburban Midwest with annual income between $61,300 and $106,140:
Total estimated expenses until age 18: $285,750
Overall annual estimated costs: $15,875
- Housing: $4,875
- Food: $1,738
- Transportation: $2,075
- Clothing: $988
- Health care: $1,075
- Child care and education: $3,913
- Other: $1,213
Rural Midwest with annual income between $62,500 and $108,210:
Total estimated expenses until age 18: $234,684
Overall annual estimated costs: $13,038
- Housing: $3,138
- Food: $1,650
- Transportation: $2,325
- Clothing: $988
- Health care: $1,113
- Child care and education: $2,725
- Other: $1,100
Here are charts for households with pre-tax annual income below those levels:
Urban/Suburban
Total estimated expenses until age 18: $210,600.
Rural
Total estimated expenses until age 18: $180,000.
Here’s more on Wallethub’s methodology and the metrics measured in each category:
Methodology
To enlighten expectant parents on the costs and conditions they can anticipate with respect to where they live, WalletHub ranked the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on how well they accommodate new families. We conducted our analysis across three dimensions, including budget considerations, health care and the baby-friendliness of the state, all of which were weighted equally. We then identified 22 metrics that were relevant to those dimensions. Among them are delivery costs, access to pediatric services and the number of child care centers per capita.
Budget – Total Weight: 5
- Hospital Cesarean Delivery Charges: Full Weight
- Hospital Conventional Delivery Charges: Full Weight
- Average Annual Infant Care Costs: Full Weight
- Cost of Living: Full Weight
- Sales Tax: Half Weight
- Milk Cost: Half Weight
- Nurses Average Annual Wage: Half Weight
- Pediatricians Average Annual Wage: Half Weight
Health Care for New Moms and Baby – Total Weight: 5
- Infant Death Rate: Full Weight
- Maternal Mortality Ratio (per 100,000 Live Births): Full Weight
- Low Birth Weight: Full Weight
- Preterm Births: Full Weight
- Number of Midwives, Obstetricians -Gynecologists per Capita Ranking: Full Weight
- Access to Pediatric Services (Number of Pediatricians per Capita): Full Weight
- Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care (mPINC) score: Full Weight
- Number of Fertility Clinics per Capita: Quarter Weight
Baby-Friendly Environment – Total Weight: 5
- Air Pollution: Half Weight
- Superfund Sites per Capita: Half Weight
- Moms Groups per Capita: Full Weight
- Number of Child Centers per Capita: Full Weight
- Percent of Child Centers that are Nationally Accredited: Half Weight
- Parental Leave Policy Score: Full Weight
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