Release No. 0286.96

                                     Laura Trivers (202) 720-4623
                                     John Webster  (202) 418-2312

USDA RELEASES ANNUAL REPORT ON THE COST OF RAISING A CHILD

     WASHINGTON, May 31, 1996--A family with a child born in 1995 will spend
more than $145,000 ($239,000 when adjusted for inflation) for food, shelter
and other necessities to raise that child over the next seventeen years,
Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman announced today.  The announcement was
accompanied by the release of USDA's annual report, "Expenditures on Children
by Families."  The report uses national expenditure data to examine and
estimate the cost of raising children through age seventeen by both single-
and two-parent families.

     Glickman noted that family income affects child rearing costs, with
low-income families projected to spend $106,890, middle-income families
$145,320, and upper-income families $211,830 (all in 1995 dollars) over
seventeen years.  In 1990, a middle-income family could expect to spend
$120,150 to raise a child through age seventeen, and in 1960, when such
projections were first made, $25,229.  The estimates do not include the cost
of childbearing or the cost of a college education.  Some current-day costs,
such as child care, were negligible in 1960.

     "This report has proven to be an invaluable resource to states in
determining child support guidelines and foster care payments," said Glickman.
"Of primary importance to states for their use in these cases is the 1995
estimate that for middle income, two-parent families, annual expenses for one
child in a two-child family range from $7,610 to $8,710."

     "For the average family, housing was the single largest expenditure on a
child, averaging $48,270, or 33 percent of the total costs over seventeen
years.  Food was the second largest expense, averaging $25,320, or 17 percent
of the total," Glickman said.

     "It's simple economics that any parent knows," said Under Secretary for
Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services Ellen Haas.  "Raising a second or third
child is less expensive than raising one alone."  She noted that families with
one child spend approximately 24 percent more -- on a per-child basis -- than
families with two children, and families with three children spend 23 percent
less per child than those with two children.

     Expenses for a child in a single-parent family were similar to those for
a child in a two-parent family.  The major difference in these cases was that
single-parent families generally had lower incomes, whereas two-parent
families were more evenly distributed over all income groups.

     The report notes geographic variations in the cost of raising a child in
different regions of the country.  Overall child-rearing expenses are highest
for families living in the urban West, followed by the urban Northeast and
urban South; families living in the urban Midwest and rural areas have the
lowest child-rearing expenses.

     A limited number of copies of the report are available to the public.
Single copies may be ordered by writing to USDA's Center for Nutrition Policy
and Promotion, 1120 20th Street, NW, Suite 200 North Lobby, Washington, DC
20036-3475.  The report also will be available on the Internet on CNPP's Home
Page at http://www.usda.gov/fcs/cnpp.html.

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NOTE:  A video news release on the cost of raising a child in America will air
via satellite on Friday, May 31, from 3:45 - 4:00 p.m.  at Telstar 401
C-Band, Transponder 7 Vertical, Audio 6.2 or 6.8, Downlink Frequency 3840 MHz.

USDA news releases and media advisories are available on the Internet.
Access the USDA Home Page on the World Wide Web at http://www.usda.gov