The (Whopping) Cost of Raising a child

Recognizing that tomorrow is National Tooth Fairy Day, we begin with $5.01. Down by 14 percent from last year’s $5.84, a lost tooth was less valuable this year.

For all else, the cost of raising a child is up.

The Cost of Raising a Child

Tooth Fairy

The cost of a tooth depends on where you live. As the only region with an increase, the South was up by 20 cents. Meanwhile, falling below $5.00 for the first time in five years, the Northeast tooth fairy left 33 percent less. The West’s tooth fairy’s expenses also shrunk by 33 percent.

Regional Lost Tooth Averages:

• The Northeast: $4.59
• The South: $5.71
• The Midwest: $3.46
• The West: $5.69

Daycare

By contrast, while daycare can be “staggeringly expensive,” it too depends on where you live. Although U.S. median daycare spending is $44,000 for the five years before kindergarten, parents in Arlington, Virginia lay out a WHOPPING $146,741 for their pre-school child:

The Cost of An 18-Year-Old

Leaping from the tooth fairy and daycare to the entire cost of raising a child, we can use the latest figures from lendingtree. For 2025, parents can expect that their 18-year-old will have cost them $297,673. Again though, reflecting regional differences, the numbers will exceed $300,000 in Hawaii, North Dakota, Washington, and Maryland while the least expensive state, reporting expenses below $200,000, is Mississippi.

Below, daycare tops all other outlays:

Our Bottom Line: Consumer Spending

Averaging 22.6 percent, families spend a massive slice of their income on their kids. Looking at the past 24 years, we can ask what might have expanded that slice, especially with average hourly wages rising by 123.3 percent.

Shown below, from economist Mark Perry, we see hospital services were up 256 percent. In addition, housing (up 104.1 percent), food and beverages (up 99.7 percent) topped the list of increases. Then, thinking of what will follow our 18 years of spending, college tuitions soared:

My sources and more: It was tough to find the current cost of raising a child because the USDA retained its original estimate and Brookings based its 2022 update on those 2015 calculations. So, I used the 2025 lendingtree and Delta Dental numbers. In addition, WSJ shared daycare costs. And finally, economist Mark Perry annually shares his “chart of the century.”