It Costs $217K To Raise A Child In Wisconsin, New Government Study Shows

WISCONSIN — If you have kids, more than likely, you know how expensive it is to raise them. But if you don't, exactly how expensive are they?

In Wisconsin cities like Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha, and Waukesha, it will cost an average middle-class family approximately $217,020 to raise a child, according to a new report released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. And that doesn't even include college.

Here's the Breakdown:

• Housing: $63,000
• Food: $39,000
• Transportation $34,080
• Clothing: $15,960
• Health Care: $21,390
• Education: $24,630
• Personal care items, entertainment, and reading materials:$18,570

The Expenditures on Children by Families report, also known as “The Cost of Raising a Child,” uses the most recent data from 2015 to determine how much people can expect to pay for food, housing, transportation, health care and other necessities for their children from birth to age 17.

Nationwide, the report found the average cost to raise a child is $233,610. Residents of Wisconsin part of the urban Midwest region, get a little bit of a discount.

Housing makes up the most significant portion of the cost of raising children. The report found that overall, 29 percent of the more than $250,000 is needed for housing. Food makes up 18 percent, followed by childcare/education (16 percent), transportation (15 percent), and health care (9 percent). Six percent is for clothing and other miscellaneous necessities accounted for 7 percent.

The report, which can be found by clicking here, does not include costs related to pregnancy or college costs.

According to the report, in 1960, average expenditures on a child in a middle-income, married-couple family amounted to $25,229, or $202,020 in 2015 dollars. By 2015, these estimated expenditures climbed 16 percent in real terms to $233,610 (assuming a family had child care and education expenses on a child).

The costs were highest in the urban Northeast, followed by the urban West, where it costs an estimated $235,140 to raise a child. The least-expensive urban area to raise a child is the Midwest ($217,020).

Patch file photo

--Kara Seymour, Patch.com, contributed to this report