Report: Cost to raise today's child tops $245,000

WASHINGTON — A federal report finds that an American child born last year will cost a middle-income family an average of more than $245,000 until he or she becomes an adult.

The Agriculture Department's report found that families in the urban Northeast tend to pay more on average than the rest of the nation. The costs of food, housing, childcare and education have risen 1.8 percent since 2012.

The USDA's report was first issued in 1960, when a middle-income family spent about $25,230 per child. That's about $198,000 in 2013 dollars.
  
Housing expenses made up 30 percent of the cost, followed by childcare, education and food.

The report didn't factor in expenses after a child turned 18, such as college tuition.

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