The rising cost of raising children has some questioning whether to have kids

There’s no doubt our wallets have taken a lot of hits lately. We seem to have to pay more for everything from the grocery store to the gas station to restaurants.

A NerdWallet survey found the same when it comes to having children. Rising costs appear to be affecting people’s decisions to have a child or additional children.

“The biggest takeaway from this survey is that cost looms large,” stated NerdWallet’s Kimberly Palmer.

Key NerdWallet survey findings

• Cost is a factor for some parents who aren’t having more kids.
• Non-parents also cite costs as a reason for opting out.
• Child care is a major cost consideration in the early years of raising a child.
• Child care costs can be stressful.

NerdWallet conducted the survey of more than 2,000 U.S. adults online Dec. 14-18, 2023, by The Harris Poll. It asked parents and non-parents about their family planning, and why many are choosing not to have more kids or not to have any kids. The personal finance website survey also asked parents if they pay for full-time child care and what it costs.

“We found that a lot of people who already have children, young children, say they won’t have more children because of the high costs of having those children,” added Palmer.

“And then also a lot of millennials who don’t have children yet are citing cost as the reason they don’t intend to have children at all,” Palmer explained.

In both scenarios, for people who say they don’t want kids or those who don’t want more kids, child care costs play a significant role.

According to NerdWallet, Americans who pay for full-time child care (defined as at least four days per week for this survey) report paying $631 a month, on average, per child. Around 1 in 9 (11%) pay between $1,000 and $1,999, and another 11% pay $2,000 or more a month per child for full-time child care.

“It puts parents in a really tough position of either leaving the workforce to care for their children, which creates financial strain or paying really high costs to have someone take care of your children through child care,” said Palmer.

Some parents have had to get creative when it comes to child care.

“One really big trend we’re seeing is just an awareness of the high cost of having children and the lack of support that people feel from their community, from their government, for finding affordable child care,” added Palmer. “Having some more support in place in the form of affordable child care could certainly help.”