US Also Struggles with Child Support Payments... Up to 46.6 Million Won Annually

Average Annual Child Support $21,000
High Child Support Burden in California

A survey found that American parents spend an average of $21,000 (about 27.5 million KRW) per child annually on child-rearing expenses. Raising a child from birth to adulthood costs nearly 500 million KRW in total.

On the 5th, financial information company SmartAsset surveyed annual child-rearing expenses in 381 major cities across the United States and found that including childcare costs of $9,051 (about 11.8 million KRW), the total annual expense amounts to $21,000.

This estimate considers the marginal additional costs for food, housing, and healthcare incurred when a household of two adults has one child.

The region with the highest child-rearing costs in the U.S. was California. Five major cities in California?San Francisco, Santa Cruz, San Jose, Napa, and Santa Rosa?accounted for half of the top 10 most expensive child-rearing areas in the country.

Among them, San Francisco (including Oakland and Berkeley), known for its high salaries from Silicon Valley IT companies and expensive housing costs, had the highest annual child-rearing expense at $35,647 (about 46.6 million KRW). Specifically, childcare costs were $16,317 (about 21.3 million KRW), food expenses were $2,111 (about 2.8 million KRW), and housing costs were $10,499 (about 13.7 million KRW).

Next were Santa Cruz ($33,877, about 44.4 million KRW) and San Jose ($33,228, about 43.4 million KRW), making the top three all cities located in California.

On the other hand, the southern region of the U.S. was found to have relatively lower costs for raising children. Among the 10 cities with the lowest child-rearing expenses, five were located in South Carolina. Morristown, Tennessee, ranked as the city with the lowest annual child-rearing cost at $14,577 (about 19.1 million KRW) in the U.S.

Jacqueline DeJohn, Economic Analysis Editor at SmartAsset, said, "As childcare costs continue to rise, it is becoming increasingly difficult for families to live comfortably," adding, "Households are struggling to find ways to reduce expenses."