Westchester 3rd Most Costly Place in U.S. to Raise a Family

Editor’s note: we bring this post back in case you missed it.

People around here have been saying this for years.

“In some spots in this country, it costs parents well into six figures just to eke by,” MarketWatch.com reports, citing data released this week by the nonprofit and nonpartisan think tank the Economic Policy Institute.

Westchester County is one of those spots.

“This does not mean a middle-class lifestyle,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist with EPI. “This is just living, no savings.”

In terms of a 2-parent, 2-child household, Westchester clocks in at third most expensive to raise a family, just behind Washington D.C. (No. 1) and Nassau-Suffolk (no surprise there.)

“Like Long Island, this suburban region outside New York City is notably pricey for families — $99,592 on average. The area shares many of the characteristics of Nassau–Suffolk County, including high taxes ($15,589 a year on average),” MarketWatch says about Westchester.

This is not about the poverty line.

“The basic family budgets presented in the report, as well as those presented via the Family Budget Calculator itself, measure the income families need in order to attain a secure yet modest living standard where they live by estimating community-specific costs of housing, food, child care, transportation, health care, other necessities, and taxes,” according to EPI.

Child care is the single most expensive line item for these families: In 500 of the 618 areas that EPI looked at, child care was parents’ biggest annual expense, averaging about $12,500 a year nationwide and climbing above $30,000 a year in one city, MarketWatch reported.

One thing about the list could be a surprise: the Hudson Valley just north of Putnam and Rockland is also on the Top 10 pricey-for-parenting list.

The EPI listed Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown in the Top 10.

“These towns typically aren’t known for ultra-posh living, but due in part to high housing costs (which plague many towns near New York City), these municipalities collectively claim the No. 7 spot on the list. It costs a family of four $92,837 to pay the bills in this area.” according to MarketWatch.com.

Read What Families Need to Get By: EPI’s 2015 Budget Calculator.

Patch file photo