Seven in 10 Americans say raising children is too expensive. That marks a 13-point jump from the prior year, the 2025 American Family Survey found. The BYU Wheatley Institute and Deseret News poll of 3,000 adults (Aug. 6–18) found 43% said not having enough money was a reason to limit family size; housing, child care, groceries and medical bills were commonly named factors.
Survey shows cost as top limiter
The 2025 American Family Survey by BYU’s Wheatley Institute and Deseret News found 70% of Americans said raising children was too expensive; 43% selected "not enough money" as a reason to limit family size. The poll sampled 3,000 adults Aug. 6–18 and was matched to national demographics. Susan Brown, director of Bowling Green State University's Center for Family and Demographic Research, said the breadth of agreement is striking.
Housing and interest rates change calculations
Rent and housing prices were central in NPR's reporting on family choices. Parents described rents far higher than at previous homes — one woman said her Texas rent increased from about $800 to $1,775 after she moved, reshaping what she thought was possible for her family. Mortgage rates near 7% were another factor families named when weighing whether to buy a home or have another child. Emily Harris, senior demographer at the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah, said higher housing costs are pushing people to rearrange the old timeline of marry, buy a home and then have children.
Money changes personal decisions
NPR followed parents and prospective parents who said monthly budgets changed their choices. One 21-year-old mother, Grace Moreno, told NPR she decided to have her tubes tied six weeks after giving birth because hospital charges, emergency visits, formula and groceries made adding a second child unaffordable right now. For some couples, choosing one child meant they could save a few hundred dollars a month to try to afford a future mortgage or to avoid repeating large medical bills.
How big the bill can be
Those individual choices add up to measurable trends. U.S. fertility has been depressed for several years, hitting record lows in 2023 and remaining near 1.6 children per woman in 2024. Demographers point to both economic pressure and changing life plans: later marriage, postponed childbearing and different expectations about family size.
Concrete figures help explain trade-offs. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's last full estimate for raising a child to adulthood was $233,610 in 2015 dollars for a middle-income married couple. Adjusting that figure for recent inflation increases the total for many households.
Cost drivers cited by parents and researchers include:
- Housing costs and higher mortgage rates
- Child care and early-education expenses
- Groceries and day-to-day household bills
- Medical bills and out-of-pocket costs around childbirth
Isabel V. Sawhill, senior fellow emeritus at the Brookings Institution, said the USDA model assumes lower inflation than recent rates, so actual costs for many families are likely higher than model-based estimates. That gap matters because surprise bills can push a household past the point where another child seems workable.
Market and policy effects
For markets, the immediate effect is visible in how households reallocate spending. Some families try to put cash toward down payments. Others cut discretionary spending or forgo additional children altogether. Those shifts affect demand for housing, child care and goods tied to family formation.
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The BYU Wheatley Institute and Deseret News poll of 3,000 adults (Aug. 6–18) found 70% said raising children was too expensive — up 13 percentage points from the prior year.
This article was created with AI assistance.
