USDA REPORT ESTIMATES CHILD BORN IN 1999 WILL COST $160,140 TO RAISE
                                           Release No. 0138.00 
                                                               
                                                               
                            Mary Beth Schultheis (202) 720-4623
                                  mary_beth.schultheis@usda.gov
                                   John Webster (202) 418-2312 
                                          john.webster@usda.gov


USDA REPORT ESTIMATES CHILD BORN IN 1999 WILL COST $160,140 TO RAISE

     WASHINGTON, April 27, 2000 Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman today
released a new report finding that a family with a child born in 1999 can
expect to spend about $160,140 ($237,000 when adjusted for inflation) for
food, shelter, and other necessities to raise that child over the next
seventeen years.

     "The cost of raising a child is jUST above 2 percent from last year, a
testament to the amazingly strong U.S. economy and our low rate of inflation,"
Glickman said.

     For 1999, the child-rearing cost estimate for middle-income, two-parent
families ranges from $8,450 to $9,530, depending on the age of the child.

     The report by USDA's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion notes
that family income affects child rearing costs, with low-income families
projected to spend $117,390; middle-income families $160,140; and upper-income
families $233,850 over a seventeen year period.  In 1960, a middle-income
family could expect to spend $25,230 to raise a child through age seventeen. 

     Housing costs are the single largest expenditure on a child, averaging
$53,310 or 33 percent of the total costs over seventeen years.  Food was the
second largest expense, averaging $27,990 or 18 percent of the total. 

     The report notes geographic variations in the cost of raising a child,
with expenses the 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. 

     USDA develops annual estimates on the cost of raising a child to assist
state agencies and courts in determining child support guidelines and foster
care payments.

     The full report, "Expenditures on Children by Families," is available on
the web at www.usda.gov/cnpp.

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