Baby & Child Cost Calculator – Can I Afford to Have a Baby?

Baby and child cost calculator

See what having a child could mean for your finances. Estimate how much you may need to raise a child through age 18, account for growing living and education costs, plan for university, and calculate how much you may need to save each year.

How this calculator works. Year-one living is monthly cost × 12. That stream grows with ordinary inflation and an age-related increase. School, extras, and university use a separate education inflation rate. Two pots: through 18, then university. The outlook says when you are ready and whether school would sit on salary.

Limitations. Educational projection only. It is not a tax, 529, or college-aid estimate. Actual child costs vary widely. Last reviewed September 2026.

Free to use · No account required · Assumptions shown · Educational planning tools

Before the baby

Monthly living cost × 12 is year one. That amount grows with inflation and an age-related increase through 18. The present value of that path is what the raising pot has to fund.

Years until the baby0 if the baby is on the way or already here. Saving continues until then.

Child cost / monthToday’s dollars. Living, care, food — not school. × 12 for the first year.

Through 18

School and co-curricular until university starts. This pot does not pay for university.

Child’s age now0 if the baby is on the way or just born.

School starts at ageSchool and co-curricular costs begin here.

School cost / yearToday’s dollars. Tuition, fees, or the extra cost of the school you mean.

Co-curricular / yearSports, music, clubs, and the extras around school.

Already saved for raisingOnly the pot earmarked through age 18.

Yearly add to that potUntil university starts. Also used to see how long until you are ready for a baby.

University

A second nest egg so they can enter university without raiding the raising pot.

University starts at ageRaising costs stop the year before this.

Years of universityUsually 4.

University cost / yearToday’s dollars. Tuition and living so they can enter smoothly.

Already saved for universityA separate pot from raising.

Yearly add to that potUntil university starts.

▶Rates

Inflation on living, a separate education inflation on school and university, an extra age-related increase on living costs, and the return that funds the annuity.

InflationApplied to living costs only.

Education inflationSchool, co-curricular extras, and university. Often higher than ordinary inflation.

Age-related increaseOn top of inflation. Children cost more as tastes and demands change.

Return on these potsThe invested rate on the raising and university nest eggs.