Ranked: The Most Expensive U.S. Metro Areas to Raise a Child

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June 28, 2024 Graphics/Design:

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The Most Expensive U.S. Metro Areas to Raise a Child

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Raising a child can be expensive, often costing hundreds of thousands of dollars from birth through to adulthood.

This graphic shows the 10 most expensive metro areas to raise a child in, among the 50 largest U.S. metropolitan areas. Costs include food, housing, childcare, healthcare, transportation, and other necessities. All figures are as of February 2024. Data is from SmartAsset.

Methodology: SmartAsset used MIT Living Wage Calculator data to compare the living costs of a household with two working adults and one child to that of a childless household with two working adults in extensive metro areas. Boston Tops the List

Raising a child in a large U.S. metro area costs an average of $25,181 per year.

The Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA, area is the most expensive, at $37,758 annually. Childcare costs $22,806 annually, and additional housing needs cost $5,425.

Metro areaAnnual cost (USD)ChildcareHousingFood, healthcare, transportation Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA37,75822,8065,4259,527 San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA35,64219,5545,92410,164 Washington, DC35,55424,8862,7627,906 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA34,41518,8675,35210,196 Hartford-East Hartford-Middletown, CT32,13519,1524,0658,918 Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO31,66318,2504,4158,998 San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA30,82914,5427,0569,231 Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA30,78117,9354,5588,288 New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY30,46317,4753,9839,005 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA30,23115,0906,1978,944 U.S Average25,18113,1873,3228,672

The San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley metro area comes in second, with an annual cost of $35,642 per child. Washington, DC, ranks third with an average cost of $35,554. Washington also leads the country in childcare costs alone at $24,886 annually.

Additional housing costs are higher in the San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad area, amounting to $7,056 annually. Meanwhile, the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara area tops the list for food, healthcare, and transportation costs.

If you enjoyed this post, be sure to check out Ranked: The Most Valuable Housing Markets in America.

Charted: Declining Birth Rates in the Most Populous Countries (1950-Today)

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June 3, 2024 Article/Editing:

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Charted: Declining Birth Rates in 6 Major Countries

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Birth rates are falling in the six most populated countries in the world, though at different speeds.

This graphic shows the annual births per 1,000 people in the world’s six largest countries by population. The data is from the UN World Population Prospects (2022) and has been compiled by Our World in Data.

The Global Decline in Fertility Rates

Fertility rates are declining in most places. According to the UN, in 1990, the average number of births per woman globally was 3.2. By 2019, this had fallen to 2.5 births per woman; by 2050, it is expected to decline further to 2.2 births.

Notably, a fertility level of 2.1 births per woman is necessary to avoid a national population decline over the long run (not including net immigration).

China’s birth rate has fallen the fastest in recent years among the countries highlighted here. The country registered 7.6 annual births per 1,000 people in 2021, compared to 24.4 in 1990 and 41.0 in 1950.

YearChinaIndiaIndonesiaNigeriaPakistanU.S. 195041.043.840.645.643.722.8 196029.842.544.546.145.722.7 197038.339.539.946.743.518.2 198022.336.233.647.543.515.9 199024.431.825.543.843.116.7 200013.827.021.943.535.814.5 201013.321.420.242.132.113.0 20208.616.616.637.528.010.9 20217.616.416.437.127.511.1

This trend suggests that China could face challenges similar to those faced by Japan, which has a vast senior population and significant economic and social implications.

The U.S. registered 11.1 annual births per 1,000 people in 2021, compared to 16.7 in 1990 and 22.8 in 1950. It’s worth noting, however, that the U.S. also adds people to its population through net immigration each year, unlike some other countries in the above dataset.

Nigeria, with the highest birth rate on our list, registered 37.1 annual births per 1,000 people in 2021, compared to 43.8 in 1990 and 45.6 in 1950.

If you enjoyed this post, check out When Will the Global Population Reach Its Peak? This visualization reveals the projected population growth over the next seven decades.