Food Represents 16% in the Cost of Raising a Child

USDA’s latest “Expenditures on Children by Families” annual report indicates that a middle-income family with a child born in 2012 will spend more than $240,000 for food, shelter and other child-rearing expenses until the child is 18 years old.  Of the costs raising the child, housing represents one-third of expenses; child care and education represent 18%; and food comprises 16% of the costs.  Overall cost of raising a child has increased 23% in real terms since 1960.