Children are a blessing, but they can also be very expensive. A new report from NerdWallet has found that living costs are keeping some people from taking the step to becoming parents.
Findings from NerdWallet’s recent survey highlight that only a quarter of parents of minor children (25%) plan to have more children and only 27% of non-parents under age 60 plan to have any children.
NerdWallet surveyed more than 2000 U.S. adults on why they are or aren’t planning to have children. Cost rises to the top in almost every category.
This isn’t surprising considering the average cost of raising a child from birth through age 17 was $233,610 for a middle-income married couple with two children, per data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture study that was published in 2017.
Per NerdWallet’s report, more people are opting to remain child-free for the rest of their lives.
“Nearly a third of Americans under age 60 who aren’t parents (31%) say they don’t plan to have kids because the overall cost of raising a child is too high,” the report states. “This includes 38% of millennials who don’t have or plan to have kids.”
Childcare costs and other unpredictable expenses are causes for immense stress.
“The cost of having kids is so high that it can feel daunting or even impossible to people who would otherwise choose to have more children,” says Kimberly Palmer, personal finance expert at NerdWallet in a statement. “Many people feel they simply cannot find a way to pay for child care on top of all of their other essential expenses.”