Cost to raise a child now tops $245,000

The cost for a middle-income family to raise a child born in 2013 to age 18 rose to $245,340, up 1.8 percent from the previous year, according to a government report released Monday.

Housing comprised the largest expense at 30 percent, followed by child care and education (18 percent), food (16 percent), and transportation (14 percent), the U.S. Agriculture Department’s annual report said.

Families in the urban Northeast had the highest cost of raising a child to adulthood: $282,480. That was followed by the urban West at $261,330. Households in the urban South and in rural areas spent less on average.

The study has been conducted annually since 1960.

For 2013, annual expenses to take care of a child for a middle-income, two-parent family ranged from $12,800 to $14,970, depending on the age of the child, the report said.

Expenses per child decrease as a family has more children, the report said, as children share bedrooms, clothing and other items.