{"id":372904,"date":"2026-07-14T19:23:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T19:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/372904\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T19:23:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T19:23:08","slug":"houston-area-families-now-spend-more-than-22000-a-year-to-raise-one-child-study-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/372904\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston area families now spend more than $22,000 a year to raise one child, study says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">HOUSTON \u2013 Families in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands metro area are paying more to raise a child in 2026, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/smartasset.com\/data-studies\/cost-of-raising-a-child-in-major-u-s-metros-2026-study\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">a new study from SmartAsset<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">The personal finance company ranked the Houston metro No. 42 among the nation\u2019s largest metropolitan areas for the annual cost of raising a single child.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">According to the study, a two-parent household in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands area will spend an average of $22,605 to raise one child in 2026. That\u2019s a 3.4% increase from 2025, when the annual cost was $21,868. In 2024, the average annual cost was $21,396.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">The study looked at common household expenses, including childcare, food, housing, transportation, health care and other child-related costs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">While costs continue to climb across much of the country, Houston\u2019s increase was in line with a broader national trend. SmartAsset found that only two major metro areas saw the annual cost of raising a child decrease from 2025 to 2026:<\/p>\n<p>Richmond, Virginia: down 2%<\/p>\n<p>Virginia Beach, Virginia: down 1%<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">The study comes as many Houston-area families continue to face higher prices for everyday necessities, adding to the financial challenges of raising children.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">SmartAsset\u2019s rankings compare the annual cost of raising one child in two-parent households across the country\u2019s largest metro areas, offering a snapshot of how family expenses vary from city to city.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">Readers can explore the full rankings, methodology and a detailed breakdown of costs, including childcare, food and other household expenses, on<a href=\"https:\/\/smartasset.com\/data-studies\/cost-of-raising-a-child-in-major-u-s-metros-2026-study\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">SmartAsset\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 Families in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands metro area are paying more to raise a child in 2026,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[131941,131942,131939,131944,131940,131943,56,58,131938,57,131946,131945],"class_list":["post-372904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-annual-child-expenses-houston","tag-annual-child-expenses-texas","tag-child-raising-trends-2026","tag-child-related-expenses-houston","tag-cost-comparison-us-cities","tag-family-financial-planning-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-metro-family-budget","tag-houston-news","tag-houston-pasadena-the-woodlands-cost","tag-smartasset-child-cost-study"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}