The data charted above come from a detailed annual report produced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. The figures charted are based on the costs for a middle-income family with two parents to raise one child.
When looking at the change in expenditures from 1960 to 2000 by category, several things are worth noting. In all but two categories, the cost was up over the period. This was most notable for the category "child care and education" which went from being a minor portion (1%) of the overall expenditure to a not insignificant 10% of the cost to raise a child. This is the result of rising day care costs associated with the entry of women into the workforce in large numbers.
The other expense categories that rose are housing, transportation (our love of large sport utility vehicles might play a role here), health care, and the catch-all category "miscellaneous" which includes such things as toys, video games, movies, sporting equipment, and the like.
The cost of feeding a child fell between 1960 and 2000. It is still, however, the second largest cost category representing 18% of the total cost to raise a child. Surprisingly, the cost of keeping the little one clothed also fell. The common belief is that children's "styles" and desire for name brand clothes is making it ever more expensive to buy clothes for children. It turns out that this impression is wrong. In 1960 we spent $365 more every year to clothe a child than we do in 2000. It should be noted that the figures in the chart do not include the value of any gifts received, like a new pair of tennis shoes from grandma and grandpa, or the baby clothes passed on from your big sister.
The table below gives more details.
| Family Type & Income (000 annually) | Housing | Food | Trans-port | Clothes | Health Care | Child Care | Misc. | TOTAL |
| Two Parent < $38 | 39,900 | 23,820 | 17,550 | 9,120 | 8,970 | 9,480 | 12,390 | 121,230 |
| Single Parent < $38 | 44,550 | 23,880 | 12,570 | 9,330 | 7,050 | 8,310 | 9,450 | 115,140 |
| Two Parent > $38 < $64 | 55,170 | 28,650 | 24,420 | 10,680 | 11,640 | 16,560 | 18,510 | 165,630 |
| Single Parent > $38 | 89,290 | 35,940 | 38,820 | 12,690 | 14,070 | 21,630 | 30,480 | 242,910 |
| Two Parent > $64 | 89,580 | 35,670 | 32,760 | 13,770 | 13,380 | 26,520 | 30,090 | 241,770 |
The Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion does not offer the same income breakdowns for both single-parent households and two-parent households15. This makes it difficult to compare single-parent and two-parent households other than for those in the first two lines, with a before-tax income below $38,000 annually.
For the categories that cover life's most urgent needs, food and shelter (here we can include clothes and health care) we see little differences between what is spent by a single-parent family and a two-parent family. In the other categories, the differences are greater. Of particular interest is the fact that the single-parent household spends more on housing for a child than does a two-parent household. Could this be the difference between renting and owning? Probably.
Finally, these data stop as soon as children reach their 18th birhtdays. Yet it is at this point that another cost of raising children arises, college. For information on trends in the cost of a college education, see Chapter 12.
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture. Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion . Expenditures on Children by Familes, 2001. Annual Report, pps. 19 and 25.
1 Interestingly, the U.S. Bureau of the Census used to keep track of another division of households. It differentiated between married couples with their own households and those without their own households.
2 The trend in housing size, however, is going in the opposite direction, towards larger houses. For more on that subject, please see the previous chapter.
3The figures for those 17 and younger (numbers that would more directly correlate to the family households with children under 18) are not easily available. Nonetheless, the 19 and under percentage of the population indicates the general decline in the youngest cohort of our society.
4 Primary reasons for increase in the number of single parent households comes from the "America's Families and Living Arrangements." See source note for a full citation.
5 It is from an analysis of a single year's worth of Census Bureau data on marriage and divorce that the following erroneous but often-quoted statement comes — "50% of all marriages end in divorce." For a number of years — 1976, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1991-5, 1998 and 1999 — the number of divorces filed equaled half or more of the number of marriages entered into in that year. If this pattern were to continue unabated than the quoted statement would become true in about the year 2030.
6 In the early 1980s women began to earn more bachelor degrees than men and have done so ever since. For more on this subject see the Trends in Post-Secondary Education chapter of the Community and Education volume of this series.
7 Data on the racial combinations of interracial couples was incomplete for 1960.
8 1990 is the most recent year for which federal, detailed data on white/Asian couples is available.
9 As we've seen in the previous panel, there are more young black women than there are black men. Is it any wonder that black women look disapprovingly on anything that reduces further the already small pool of potential same race mates? Read the next panel for more on this subject.
10 There are also 1.3% of children under the age of 18 being raised by neither parent or in institutional settings.
11 The use of the term "single parent" in the context of single-parent household means only that one parent is raising the child and does not refer to the marital status of the parent. In some cases the parent is married but the spouse is not present.
12 Hispanics may be of any race. They may appear in the race groupings as well as under "Hispanics."
13 See the panel entitled "Racial Breakdown of Families with Children" for a further discussion of whether or not marriage is really on the wane.
14 The State of Vermont is the only state to have passed a civil unions law, as of July 2002.
15 Most single-parent households in the sample surveyed have an annual before-tax income at or below $38,000 (83%). The sample was weighted to reflect the population it represents. The remaining 17% of single-parent households are presented in the single category — before-tax annual income of more than $38,000. Because this category includes a few single-parent households with high income, the data in this line of the table is not strictly comparable with the line above it, two parents with an income before taxes of between $38,000 and $64,000 annually.
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