The kids may be alright, but we’re not too sure about your pockets.
A lot of Americans are feeling the pinch of rising costs— from groceries to rent— and it’s hitting parents hard.
According to a study by the Brookings Institution, as reported in the Wall Street Journal, a married, middle-income couple with two children would spend an average of $18,271 a year to raise their youngest born child. Based on the costs of goods and services for the child if they were born in 2015, that amounts to $310,605 for expenses until they are 17.
This includes costs for things like baby food, footwear for boys and girls, educational books and supplies, toys, sports equipment, and other costs, which are projected to be higher than they were before inflation—and corporate price gouging— began to rise at a faster pace in the last couple of years.
Black parents are more susceptible to these changes, according to economists. As the Wall Street Journal reports, “Black families experience higher levels of price volatility, which can make it difficult for households to determine how much the money they earn will buy.”
Black parents also have “little room to adjust” for these fluctuations in costs for household items and other necessities, like housing, according to the outlet.
Just imagine what parents may also want to contribute for college after kids turn 17, the occasional low interest loan to your 20-something that may or may not ever get paid back, and what it might cost if those 20-somethings ever decide to live back home.
For women who want to remain without children, we hope the birth control is controlling. For everyone else, we pray for the protection of your pocketbooks, at least until everyone can earn— and fight for— better wages.