Cost of raising a US child to age 18 is $245,340

An annual report released by the United States Department of Agriculture that calculates the cost of raising a child, among other statistics about U.S. economic life, has determined it costs $245,340 to raise a child to the age of 18.

The USDA report says $245,340 is the amount it will cost to raise a child to the age of 18 if that child was born in 2013. The costs include food, housing, daycare and education. It does not include the cost of higher education, which would have greatly inflated the figure.

The new figure represents a 1.8 percent increase from $241,080 the last time the figure was calculated in 2013. The percentages people spend on each category did not change, just the amount.

The report says that the costs in the urban south and in rural communities were much lower than those same costs in the Northeastern United States. In the urban South, the cost was $230,610, while in rural areas the cost was $193,590. By contrast, the cost in the Northeast was $282,480.

The figures were calculated using the Consumer Expenditure Survey. That survey is conducted by the federal government to determine the costs of a range of services and goods throughout the United States.

One of the most interesting findings in the report is the difference in the amounts spend on child rearing depending on the income bracket of the parents.

Parents making up to $61,530 spend around $176,550 on raising a child to 18. For those making between $61,530 and $106,540, the figure rises to $245,340. Those making more than $107,540 spend the largest amount by far, at $407,820.

The report says that food is the largest expense associated with child rearing across all groups. For parents in the middle bracket, housing was the largest single expense, average 30 percent of total expenditures.