SAN DIEGO — The joys of raising a child comes with a hefty price tag for those living in some of the nation’s most expensive U.S. metros, including San Diego.
That’s according to a new study by financial technology company SmartAsset, which set out to calculate these costs by analyzing how much food, housing, childcare, healthcare, transportation and other necessities are costing two-parent households.
SmartAsset says the average cost to raise a child in the U.S. is $20,813 annually with some parts of the country, like California, dishing out more than $30,000 a year per child.
While conducting their study, SmartAsset used data from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Living Wage Calculator to compare the living costs of a household with two adults and one child to that of a childless household with two adults. This data reflects spending in 2022.
The survey’s findings show the San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad metro area ranked among the top 15 most expensive areas to raise a child among 381 metro areas across the country. SmartAsset’s analysis shows the annual cost of raising a child in these areas is $28,745.
To break it down further, the survey shows parents with one child spent an average of $12,006 on childcare, $2,111 on food and $7,908 on housing last year.
Here’s a look at the 15 most expensive U.S. metros to raise a child, according to this study:
| Rank | Metro Area | Annual Cost of Raising a Child | Childcare | Food | Housing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA | $35,647 | $16,317 | $2,111 | $10,499 |
| 2 | Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA | $33,877 | $12,410 | $2,111 | $12,636 |
| 3 | San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | $33,228 | $15,785 | $2,111 | $8,612 |
| 4 | Barnstable Town, MA | $33,184 | $18,094 | $2,054 | $7,572 |
| 5 | Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | $32,307 | $17,892 | $2,054 | $6,897 |
| 6 | Ann Arbor, MI | $31,670 | $22,154 | $1,807 | $2,580 |
| 7 | Trenton-Princeton, NJ | $31,314 | $17,437 | $2,054 | $6,492 |
| 8 | Kalamazoo-Portage, MI | $30,786 | $19,853 | $1,807 | $3,997 |
| 9 | Napa, CA | $30,412 | $12,869 | $2,111 | $8,712 |
| 10 | Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA | $29,544 | $12,733 | $2,111 | $7,980 |
| 11 | Boulder, CO | $29,486 | $14,914 | $2,111 | $5,568 |
| 12 | Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA | $29,371 | $12,008 | $2,111 | $8,532 |
| 13 | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | $29,131 | $12,530 | $2,111 | $7,770 |
| 14 | Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI | $28,917 | $17,754 | $1,807 | $4,227 |
| 15 | San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA | $28,745 | $12,006 | $2,111 | $7,908 |
SmartAsset offered up some financial advice for parents in the wake of this study: start saving for your child’s education, don’t forget about retirement funds and work with a financial professional to plan for your future.
