UK vs US: Where is it cheaper to raise a child – and who gets more for their money?

So where do parents have it better? We’ve crunched the numbers, from hospital bills to childcare to extracurriculars – to find out where raising a child to 18 is most expensive.

Of course, these are all based on averages, and raising a child in London or New York will obviously be more expensive than doing so in the Midlands or Milwaukee. And salaries differ, too, with US salaries tending to be much higher than in the UK.

Giving birth

Giving birth is free on the NHS in UK, but in the US, the average cost of childbirth for people without health insurance is $18,865, Forbes reported earlier this year. Even with insurance, new parents still have to fork out an average of $2,854.

The amount that US parents spend on childbirth depends hugely on what type of birth it is — a Caesarean section costs an average of $26,280 while a vaginal delivery costs an average of $14,768. It also depends on where they give birth — Michigan is the cheapest state, with the average cost of delivery being 49% lower than the national average, while Nebraska is the most expensive at 41% higher than the national average.

If your baby is born with a condition, the birth is complex in some way, or you have to stay in hospital for longer, these costs might be higher.

Essential newborn gear

With big-ticket items like cots, car seats, pushchairs, and baby monitors, on top of the constantly replaced nappies, formula, and babygros, the first few weeks of a baby’s life can be expensive. There are obviously many different brands and makes of these products available, so these are estimates based on average prices.

In the UK (numbers according to the UK government-affiliated MoneyHelper.co.uk):

• Cot — £70-800
• Car seat — £100-500
• Pushchair — between £100 and £1000, but the average price of the best pushchairs as decided by consumer watchdog group Which? is £490
• Baby monitor — £30-50

In the US (numbers from WhatToExpect.com):

• Cot — on average $150-250
• Car seat — usually $80-400
• Pushchair/stroller — anywhere between $100 and $1000
• Baby monitor — $25-400

Overall, the costs for essential newborn sleeping and travelling gear is similar in the UK and US.

Feeding and nappies

Breastmilk is free wherever you live, but new parents may still need breast pumps, bottles, and sterilisation gear if they aren’t using formula.

All this feeding gear costs between £50 and £200 in the UK and $75-500 in the US.

Formula costs more in the US, at an average of $800-1500 to the UK’s average of £480-840 for the first year of a baby’s life.

Nappies/diapers are also more expensive in the US — $40-100 a month compared to £15-60 per month in the UK. PlayLikeMum.com estimates that parents in the UK spend around £136 on nappy changes (including disposable nappies/diapers, wipes, and nappy/diaper cream) in the first month, while in the US this figure is close to $290 (around £221).

Childcare

In England, working parents can get up to 30 hours of free childcare a week for children between 9 months and 4 years old (this is slightly different in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland).

This free childcare was limited to three- and four-year olds up until recently, so parents of older and younger children have only just started to benefit. Even now, the free hours are only available for 38 weeks of the year, so with most full-time jobs being 40 hours a week plus travel time, parents are left with quite a few hours left to pay for. And the free hours are not available for parents earning over £100,000 or under the National Minimum Wage.

So, with the average nursery place costing around £1052 a month, this can be a real burden for UK parents

In the US, the average across the states is a little less — $1094 (£835) a month — but there is less government help available. According to The Guardian, the US government only contributes an average of $500 per child per year in grants and programs, and these tend to only be for low-income families.

School

Both the UK and US have free education for all, so we won’t include this in the average figures as only 6.5% of children in the UK go to private/fee-paying schools, and only 9% in the US.

But unlike in the US, the vast majority of UK schools have a uniform, which parents have to pay for. A UK government survey found that parents of secondary-school-age children (11 to 16) spent an average of £442.25 on school uniform and PE kit in 2023.

The charity Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) estimates that parents need to spend a minimum of just under £450 a year on their secondary-school-age child’s learning, including things like materials for DT (design and technology), textbooks, scientific calculators, and stationery. That’s on top of almost £140 on enrichment activities like trips, charity days, and celebrations, and £390 on transport to and from school.

Across the pond, the National Retail Federation estimates that US parents planned to spend an average of $858.07 on back-to-school clothing, shoes, school supplies (like pens, notebooks, and hand sanitiser), and electronics this year.

Meanwhile, for a lot of children in the US, transportation to school is free, as those famous yellow school buses are often paid for by the school district’s taxes.

Healthcare

Although healthcare is generally much more expensive in the US than the UK — thanks to the free National Health Service in the UK — this doesn’t tend to affect children as much.

This is because, according to data from the Children’s Hospital Association, 95% of US children are covered by health insurance, whether that’s through their parents’ employment or Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for children from lower-income families.

Living costs — including food, housing, and clothes

The general cost of living varies from state to state in the US, according to estimates from SmartAsset’s 2024 survey on the cost of raising a child. The annual cost of food, housing, childcare, medical costs, transport, and other necessities can be anywhere from $35,841 (£27,364) in Massachusetts (the most expensive state to raise a child) to $16,151 (£12,331) in Mississippi (the least expensive).

Meanwhile, the charity CPAG found that it costs an average of £251,018 (including rent, childcare, and council tax) to raise a child to 18 in the UK. This works out as approximately £13,945 a year.

These figures apply to two-parent households, but the numbers are larger if a child is raised by a single parent — more than £21,000 higher in the UK, according to CPAG. And note that they both include childcare costs, which we’ve already covered in this article.

Extracurriculars

A survey of 2000 US customers by LendingTree found that parents spend an average of $731 per child per year on extracurricular activities like sports, music, dance, and theatre. This increases to over $1,000 for parents who earn over $100,000.

In the UK, it depends on what activities kids do. A 2019 survey of 1,500 parents for Out of School, Out of Pocket found that they paid a yearly average of £260 for sports clubs, £156 for drama clubs, and £468 for extracurricular tuition.

So, where does it cost more to raise a child – the US or the UK?

There are too many factors and individual circumstances to say conclusively whether raising a child in the UK or US is more affordable. Overall, costs are higher in the US, but salaries are too, so it all depends on what each family spends on, how they sort childcare, and whether they have health insurance in the US.

Talking in terms of averages though, UK parents will be surprised to hear that it actually costs more to raise a child across the pond. A 2023 study by LendingTree estimated that the average cost of raising a child to 18 in the US is a staggering $389,000 (£296,998) compared to the UK's average of £251,018 ($328,775), representing nearly a £46,000 difference over 18 years.

But no matter which side of the Atlantic you’re on, the last few years have seen an increase in the costs of living for everyone, so no one has it easy!