10 Most Expensive Places to Raise a Family in the US: New Report

MarketWatch has published a new, daunting set of rankings about the most expensive places in the United States to raise a family.

Some of them you could name off-hand -- Honolulu, San Francisco.

But also included in the list are Westchester County and the Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown region.

MarketWatch's list is based on a study by the Economic Policy Institute. The study calculated the cost of living in 618 metro areas -- housing, child care, food, transportation, health care, clothes, even school supplies. It found that in some places a two-parent family with two kids is spending $100,000 a year to cover those costs.

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

Child care is the biggest expense.

MarketWatch noted that New York City is only ranked No. 4 on its list. Washington, DC is No. 1, followed by Nassau-Suffolk County.

Westchester County is No. 3. The study calculated average living costs for a Westchester family of four at $99,592, and pointed out its high property taxes ($15,589 a year on average).

Their surprising ranking was Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown, which came in No. 7. Researchers said:

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.

See MarketWatch's full list here.