Having a child in 2024 costs a pretty penny — with experts estimating that the cost of giving birth can range anywhere from about $6,000 to $13,000 with insurance.
The company Very Very Diapers analyzed the cost of having a baby in all 50 U.S. states, basing their data on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and found that total costs, which included prenatal care, delivery and postnatal care, ranged anywhere from about $6,000 to well over $13,000.
The data also considered the rent increase from a one-bedroom apartment to a two-bedroom apartment and the cost of annual child care.
With a total cost of $13,244, Alaska tops the charts as the priciest place to have a baby — over double the cost of the least expensive state, Alabama, at $6,191.
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Most expensive states to give birth
- Alaska, $13,244
- Florida, $11,938
- Wisconsin, $11,477
- New Jersey, $9,830
- New York, $9,635
- Illinois, $9,508
- North Dakota, $9,070
- Connecticut, $8,991
- California, $8,922
- Arizona, $8,890
Least expensive states to give birth
- Alabama, $6,191
- Rhode Island, $6,343
- Arkansas, $6,653
- Nebraska, $6,732
- Montana, $6,772
- Louisiana, $6,822
- Utah, $6,915
- New Mexico, $6,958
- Maine, $6,979
- Hawaii, $7,029
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You can see the full report here.
Child care costs
For dual-income households across the U.S., whose default option is to hire child care, unless they have trusted family or friends available nearby, the costs only increase.
A new study from LendingTree found the cost of sending two young children to full-time daycare is now 40% more expensive than the average rent across the nation’s 100 largest metros.
The analysis of Child Care Aware of America and Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data determined that the average monthly cost of full-time center-based child care for an infant and a 4-year-old across the 100 largest U.S. metros is $2,182, or 39.4% higher than the average monthly cost to rent a two-bedroom unit, which is $1,566.
To break it down, the average monthly child care cost for one infant is $1,218, which is just 22.2% less expensive than renting a two-bedroom place.
In 91 of the 100 largest U.S. metros, the average monthly cost of full-time center-based care for two children exceeds the monthly rent, LendingTree found. In nine of those major metros, child care costs are double rent costs.
FOX Business’ Breck Dumas contributed to this report.
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