10 Most Expensive Cities To Raise a Family

It’s a good thing raising a family is rewarding in so many intangible ways, because to do so in the U.S. costs a lot in the process. Not only do overall costs of living go up when you have children, because now you have more people to feed, clothe and educate, but a recent study conducted by GOBankingRates found that the average annual cost of center-based childcare (as opposed to home-based) can run around $15,000 when they’re babies to about $9,000 for school-aged children.

Moreover, the cost to raise a child varies from city to city and state to state. To find out the most and least expensive states to have a child, GOBankingRates analyzed cities to find the most expensive places to raise a family with data from Sperling’s BestPlaces, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Zillow Home Value Index and AreaVibes. Unsurprisingly, many of the cities on this list are in states already known for their high costs of living.

Here’s a look at the top 10 most expensive cities for raising a child.

• Median income: $116,938
• Monthly mortgage: $5,517
• Total monthly cost of living: $9,237
• Total annual cost of living: $110,849

• Median income: $50,749
• Monthly mortgage: $4,794
• Total monthly cost of living: $8,353
• Total annual cost of living: $100,234

• Median income: $198,273
• Monthly mortgage: $16,120
• Total monthly cost of living: $19,439
• Total annual cost of living: $233,267

• Median income: $121,768
• Monthly mortgage: $5,129
• Total monthly cost of living: $8,937
• Total annual cost of living: $107,240

• Median income: $49,630
• Monthly mortgage: $7,022
• Total monthly cost of living: $10,550
• Total annual cost of living: $126,596

• Median income: $82,772
• Monthly mortgage: $7,416
• Total monthly cost of living: $11,030
• Total annual cost of living: $132,355

• Median income: $149,471
• Monthly mortgage: $22,013
• Total monthly cost of living: $24,879
• Total annual cost of living: $298,551

• Median income: $87,961
• Monthly mortgage: $5,302
• Total monthly cost of living: $9,090
• Total annual cost of living: $109,076

• Median income: $165,940
• Monthly mortgage: $15,619
• Total monthly cost of living: $19,012
• Total annual cost of living: $228,148

• Median income: $76,607
• Monthly mortgage: $4,458
• Total monthly cost of living: $8,431
• Total annual cost of living: $101,168

How much do kids cost? As you can see, that really depends on where you raise them. Child care and housing are the biggest expenses no matter where you live, so keep these costs in mind when planning where to raise a family. Ideally, you’d have enough left over after paying for the day-to-day costs of having a child to save money for college, as tuition costs continue to rise.

Jordan Rosenfeld contributed to the reporting for this article.

Methodology: For this study, GOBankingRates analyzed cities to find the most expensive places to raise a family. First GOBankingRates found the cost-of-living indexes as sourced from Sperling’s BestPlaces and using the national average expenditure costs for a married couple with children as sourced from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for a Married Couple with Children, the average expenditure costs can be calculated for each city. Using the Zillow Home Value Index from June 2024, the average single-family home value can be found. By assuming a 10% down payment and using the national average 30-year fixed mortgage rate, as sourced from the Federal Reserve Economic Data, the average mortgage can be calculated. The average mortgage and expenditure cost can be used to calculated the overall cost of living for each city. The livability index was sourced from AreaVibes and included as supplemental information. To qualify for this study the city had to have a population of at least 20,000 resident and have all data available. The household income was scored and weighted at 1.00, the mortgage cost was scored and weighted at 2.00 and the expenditure cost was scored and weighted at 2.00. All the scores were summed and sorted to show the most expensive cities to raise a family. All data was collected on and is up to date as of Aug. 22, 2024.