It Costs HOW MUCH to Raise a Child?

Kids are expensive

That Cute Little Bundle of Joy Is Going to Cost You Big Bucks

Anyone raising kids knows it can be pricey, but did you ever wonder how much it costs, on average, to have a kid these days?

It all adds up, for sure.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's "Expenditures on Children by Families" report finds that when you add up the expenses leading up to adulthood (think food, health care, clothing, etc.), you're looking at $234,900 for a child born in 2011 to a middle-income family.

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As a cool measure of comparison, the U.S. Department of Agriculture provides graphs that show the amount spent now versus in 1960, when the report was first produced.

Back in 1960, a family was estimated to spend $25,000 over 17 years.

My how times have changed. Of course, if you adjust that figure to today's dollars, it's around $191,720.

The biggest areas that saw an increase between the two years in the comparison were child care/education and health care. Neither area is too surprising, especially since more families need child care versus their 1960 counterparts.

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Interestingly, the food expense category actually saw a decrease, from 24 percent of income in 1960 to 16 percent in 2011.