There is no denying that having a family costs money, everything costs money. Just how much having a child will cost will totally depend on how much money you have, what you spend it on, and what free stuff you have at your disposal. There are so many factors that go into determining the cost of raising a child. The US Department of Agriculture releases a report every year that breaks down just how much children cost. It does a good job of giving us a glimpse of what can be expected.

The report entitled, Expenditures of Children by Families, details how much a family will spend on raising a child from birth through age 17. According to the report a family can expect to spend between $139,110 and $279,450 on one child throughout its life. Now there are many factors that play into these numbers. The report looks at seven different areas that families spend money on, housing, food, transportation, clothing, health care, education, and miscellaneous. There results are broken down by income level and then further by age of the child.

The amount of money a family spends on their child is greatly impacted by how much money they have to begin with. For example, according to the report a family making less than $43,200 a year will spend approximately $7,300 on their child in the first two years, a family making over $72,600 will spend approximately $15,190 during that same time period. As would be expected, those who have more spend more.

The costs associated with having a child have a pretty big impact on when a couple will decide they are ready start a family. Men have a particularly hard time swallowing the numbers. But what everyone needs to remember is that you do have control over how much you spend, and you don’t have to come up with all the money up front!!

Having a child costs money, just like everything else in life. The benefits, however, far exceed the money spent. I encourage you to sit down with your spouse and crunch the numbers, but at the end of the day remember there are ways to trim the costs and that having a baby is about more than money.

Here are a few helpful websites that have great “baby cost” calculators.