USDA RELEASES ANNUAL REPORT ON THE COST OF RAISING A CHILD
                                                               

Release No. 0127.98

				 Jim Borland (202) 690-0469
					jim.borland@usda.gov
				John Webster (202) 418-2312
					john.webster@usda.gov

USDA RELEASES ANNUAL REPORT ON THE COST OF RAISING A CHILD

       WASHINGTON, March 23, 1998--The cost of children continues to rise
according to a report issued today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 
Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman announced the availability of the annual
report "Expenditures on Children by Families" which examines family
expenditures on children through age 17.

       For a child born in 1997, the report estimates that a middle-income
family will spend $153,660 over the next 17 years to provide food, shelter
and other necessities in raising a child (in 1997 dollars).  In 1960 when
projections were first made, a middle-income family could expect to spend
$25,229 to raise a child (in 1960 dollars).  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, issued by USDA annually since 1960, is a valuable
resource to states in determining child support guidelines and foster care
payments," said Glickman.  "For middle income, two-parent families, annual
expenses for one child in a two-child family ranged from $8,060 to $9,170."

       For the average family, housing was the single largest expenditure on
a child accounting for 33 percent of total costs over 18 years.  Food was
the second largest expense accounting for 18 percent of the total.  For
families with preschool children, child care is one of the largest expenses
incurred on a child.  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.

       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.

       The 1997 report is available as a pdf file on the CNPP home page at
http://www.usda.gov/fcs/cnpp.htm.  A limited number of single printed copies
are available by writing to the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and
Promotion, 1120 20th Street, N.W., Suite 200, North Lobby, Washington, DC 
20036-3406.

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