12 States Where It’s Cheapest To Raise Kids in 2024

The cost of raising a family has always been higher than the cost of living being single or only married. This is for obvious reasons: more mouths to feed, more bodies to clothe, more shelter to provide, along with education expenses. The list goes on.

But not all U.S. states are created equal when it comes to the cost of raising kids. Some are drastically more affordable than others.

GOBankingRates examined each state’s average annual expenditures and the median income for families to find the cost of raising a family in every state and Washington, D.C. — as well as crime rates, high school graduation rates and more to find which might be the best and worst states to raise a family. From there, we narrowed down the top 12 cities with the lowest average annual expenditures for families.

Let’s take a look at some of the cheapest spots to settle down and raise your little ones.

• Population of families: 25.1%
• High school graduation rate: 91.1%
• Property crime per capita: 779
• Median income for families: $70,178

Average annual expenditures for families: $30,122

• Population of families: 23.8%
• High school graduation rate: 84.2%
• Property crime per capita: 1,362
• Median income for families: $81,756

Average annual expenditures for families: $30,012

• Population of families: 23.5%
• High school graduation rate: 90%
• Property crime per capita: 1,874
• Median income for families: $80,498

Average annual expenditures for families: $30,001

One of the key ways to build wealth fast — and over the long term — is to earn passive income.

• Population of families: 25.4%
• High school graduation rate: 92.1%
• Property crime per capita: 521
• Median income for families: $65,845

Average annual expenditures for families: $29,988

• Population of families: 23.8%
• High school graduation rate: 83.8%
• Property crime per capita: 784
• Median income for families: $78,834

Average annual expenditures for families: $29,930

• Population of families: 24.4%
• High school graduation rate: 80.8%
• Property crime per capita: 1,964
• Median income for families: $71,155

Average annual expenditures for families: $29,654

• Population of families: 25%
• High school graduation rate: 89.5%
• Property crime per capita: 1,871
• Median income for families: $77,976

Average annual expenditures for families: $29,443

• Population of families: 24.4%
• High school graduation rate: 90.6%
• Property crime per capita: 1,275
• Median income for families: $70,878

Average annual expenditures for families: $29,222

• Population of families: 24.3%
• High school graduation rate: 82.9%
• Property crime per capita: 1,481
• Median income for families: $69,093

Average annual expenditures for families: $29,440

• Population of families: 24.9%
• High school graduation rate: 87.7%
• Property crime per capita: 651
• Median income for families: $62,802

Average annual expenditures for families: $28,985

• Population of families: 24.6%
• High school graduation rate: 90.4%
• Property crime per capita: 1,890
• Median income for families: $73,248

Average annual expenditures for families: $28,738

• Population of families: 24.9%
• High school graduation rate: 88.8%
• Property crime per capita: 1,933
• Median income for families: $65,673

Average annual expenditures for families: $28,605

Daria Uhlig contributed to the reporting for this article.

Methodology: In order to find how much it costs to raise a family in all 50 states, GOBankingRates analyzed each state for a variety of factors, including [1] overall state cost of living index as sourced from the Missouri Economic and Research Information and [2] average expenditure costs for families with children as sourced from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey to find the overall expenditure costs for each state; [3] total population, household population, family population and median family with children income, all sourced from the U.S. Census American Consumer Survey, then calculated what percentage of the population are families with children; [4] violent crime by state and [5] property crime by state, both sourced from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Crime Data Explorer and used to calculated the violent crime rate per 100,000 and property crime rate per 100,000; [6] High school graduation rates by state, as sourced from the U.S. News and World Report for High School Graduation Rates; and [7] average single family home value for October 2023, as sourced from the Zillow Home Value Index. The average overall expenditure cost was scored, the percentage of the population being families with children was scored, the high school graduation rate was scored, the NAEP math score was scored, the violent crime rate per 100,000 was scored, the property crime rate per 100,000 was scored, the median family income was scored, and the average single family home value for October 2023 was scored. All the scores were combined and sorted to show how much it costs to raise a family in every state. All data was collected and is up to date as of May 13, 2024.