--- title: "Raising One Kid Now Costs a Third of a Million Dollars" description: "Raising a kid has never been easy. It’s probably never been this expensive either, as a new estimate from the Brookings Institution, published last week for The Wall Street Journal, puts the average cost of raising a child through high school at an astonishing $310,605. Specifically, the estimate calculates the average cost for a married, […]" date: "2022-08-24" modified: "2022-08-24" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/raising-kid-cost-rising" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "economy" - "inflation" - "parenting" - "the digest" --- # Raising One Kid Now Costs a Third of a Million Dollars ![Historic inflation means that raising a child will be more expensive too, and a new Brookings Institution estimate puts the cost well over $300,000.]() *Mother meditating at the kitchen with her children flying around \Image: Getty Images\* ## How High Raising a kid has never been easy. And with inflation, it’s probably never been this expensive either, as a new estimate from the Brookings Institution, [published last week]() in *The Wall Street Journal*, puts the average cost of raising a child through high school at an astonishing $310,605. Specifically, the estimate calculates the average cost for a married, middle income couple with two children, raising their younger child born in 2015 — a pretty widely applicable scenario. That’s more than a $70,000 increase from a [USDA estimate]() of childrearing costs from just five years ago in 2017, which put the number at an already intimidating $233,610. "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," Brookings senior fellow Isabel Sawhill told the *WSJ*. ## The Culprit The Brookings analysis used the earlier USDA estimate as a baseline, which accounted for expenses ranging from basic amenities like food, clothing, and housing, to the stuff needed for typical kid’s activities, like sports equipment, and much, much more. The main driver of the drastic cost increase is, of course, historically high inflation — a [40 year high]() — and that should come as no surprise to anyone that does their own grocery shopping or owns a car. The inflation rate peaked at a whopping 9.1 per cent [in June](), and then "eased" down to 8.5 per cent [in July](). Where it’s headed next is anyone’s guess, but Sawhill thinks the inflation rate will be coming down thanks to the Fed "stepping on the brakes." To her, the uncertainty lies in just how hard and how fast that decline will be. That’s great and all, but the fact of the matter is that inflation has been outpacing wages for some time now. Since July 2021, average weekly wages have dropped 3.5 per cent when adjusted for inflation, [according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics](). Something as fundamental as raising a child should never cost so much, especially when parents are struggling to make ends meet. **More on inflation:** [*Oh Great, Gas AND Solar Prices Are Going Up*]() ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()