Child-rearing expenses vary considerably by household income level. For a child in a twochild, husband-wife family, annual expenses ranged from $8,760 to $9,970, on average,
(depending on age of the child) for households with before-tax income less than $59,410,
from $12,290 to $14,320 for households with before-tax income between $59,410 and
$102,870, and from $20,420 to $24,510 for households with before-tax income more than
$102,870.
As a proportion of total child-rearing expenses, housing accounted for the largest share
across income groups, comprising 30 to 32 percent of total expenses on a child in a twochild, husband-wife family. For families in the middle-income group, child care/education
(for those with the expense) and food were the next largest average expenditures on a child,
accounting for 18 and 16 percent of child-rearing expenses, respectively.
Annual expenditures on children generally increased with age of the child. This fact was the
same for both husband-wife and single-parent families.
Overall annual child-rearing expenses were highest for husband-wife families in the urban
Northeast, followed by families in the urban West and urban Midwest; families in the urban
South and rural areas had the lowest child-rearing expenses.
Compared with expenditures on each child in a two-child, husband-wife family, expenditures
by husband-wife households with one child average 25 percent more on the single child and
expenditures by households with three or more children average 22 percent less
on each child.
Child-rearing expense patterns of single-parent households with a before-tax income less
than $59,410 were 7 percent lower than those of husband-wife households in the same
income group. Most single-parent households were in this income group (compared with
about one-third of husband-wife families).