Canadian kids are cheaper

Formal and informal comparisons of the cost of raising children on either side of the border

By: Lanny Boutin

  Last year Straight Goods dispelled the myth that Canadians are poor cousins to the US. Comparing things like groceries, housing, drugs and appliances, Straight Goods found in reality Canadians fared a bit better on some things and worse on others, but pretty well overall.
  This year we're looking at The Cost of Raising Children.
  It's hard to put a monetary value on family, but let's be honest; those bundles of joy aren't cheap.
  And families come in many shapes and sizes, each with different ideas of what's essential. Children don't come off the rack either. A 1999 study by the University of Manitoba (www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/homeec...) found it costs almost $600 more per year to feed a 16-year-old boy than a 16-year-old girl. ($15,270 for a girl vs. $16,801 for a boy - anyone who's had teenage boys will attest to that figure.) It's also more expensive to clothe a girl to the age of 18, surprisingly though the difference is less than $1,000.
  But what do we find when we look across the border? First we compared the Manitoba study with a similar US Department of Agriculture (www.usda.gov/cnpp/using2.htm) study. Then we talked to the real experts, parents.
  Using an email survey, we polled 27 parents, from both sides of the boarder, on their experiences. We talked to a cross section of parents with incomes ranging from $15,000 to $110,000 per year and between one and six kids, each ranging in age from newborns to teenagers.

The Real Costs
  The cost of food bounces back and forth depending on the age of the child, but the total cost of feeding a child to the age of 18 is $5,000 more in the US. That's before any consideration of currency exchange.
  Clothing is consistently higher in Canada, varying from $8 more per year for a 2-year old, to $236 more per year for a 16 year old according to the two studies. This makes a total of $4,515 more for the first 18 years, again in local currency.
  But these figures are based on new products and over half of the families we talked to, on both sides of the border, said they relied on hand-me-downs and second hand stores for things like clothing, toys and furniture.
  Sandra Phinney of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia said they "rely almost 90 percent on second hand stores for clothing and furniture". Clara Bayliss of Saskatoon Saskatchewan agreed, "We plan to buy as much second hand as we can, especially baby clothes. I'd say that about 85% of clothing will be purchased second hand, or borrowed."
  Heath care, which includes the cost of a private health plans, like Blue Cross, dental, optical, prescription and non prescription medications, was consistently higher in the US, running around $100 more per year. The cost of health care to the age of 18 was almost double in the US, $10,713 in comparison to $5,448 in Canada, even with the inclusion, in the Manitoba study, of Medicare premiums which are not charged in all provinces.
  One of the main benefits of living in Canada noted by both Canadian and US respondents, was universal health care. "Despite what some people in Canada say about the healthcare system, it is still better than in the US," noted David Fisher of Columbus, Ohio, "Approximately 10 percent of the US population has no medical care at all, I personally know people who have gotten sick or injured and could not afford medical care."
  Childcare was the one category which gave us some trouble. The initial comparison showed the cost of childcare was much higher in Canada; more than double that of the US. This was because the Canadian costs was based on actual prices, the US on the average of a survey which 50 percent of the respondents had reported no child care costs.
  To correct the problem Dr. Mark Lino an economist with the US Department of Agriculture used data from the US Census Bureau's, 1995 household economics study Who's Minding the Kids?, corrected to 1999 costs, to worked out the average weekly childcare cost for a US family making $1,500 or less per month at $78 per child; $4,056 per year. This gave us a US lifetime figure of $44,616, $7,413 less than the $52,029 Canadian cost. (Childcare was deemed as necessary to the age of 11)
  But like health care, the cost of childcare and the subsidies available, vary from place to place. An Alberta mother who works from home listed her childcare costs as minimal. Joan Grava, a stay-at-home mother from Marietta, Georgia listed her costs as "Priceless, she wouldn't have it any other way".
  A mother from Scarborough, Ontario says she spends $900 per month on babysitting, while Kathy Springstead, of Rochester, Michigan noted she will receive subsidised childcare from her company when she returns to work.

And the Winner is?
  With the childcare adjustments, our figuring shows the cost of raising a child, in local dollars, was substantiality higher, in the US. The total cost of raising a child to the age of 18 in the US worked out to $178,945, $26,000 more that the Canadian total of $152,862.
  Without perfectly matched data for each county, it's impossible to make exact comparisons, but using these two similar studies and with the help of our families, I think we have again dispelled the myth that it's cheaper to live in the US.

The cost of raising one child for one year
Child Age 2
	Canada	US
Food	$1448	$1066
Clothing	$478	$471
Health Care*	$553	$633
Child Age 10
	Canada	US
Food	$1641	$1835
Clothing	$635	$570
Health Care	$569	$632
Child Age 16
	Canada	US
Food	$1945	$2083
Clothing	$1079	$843
Health Care	$560	$682
Cost of Raising a child to the Age of 18
	Canada	US
Food	$23,878	$28,941
Clothing	$15,035	$11,420
Health Care	$5,448	$10,713
Child Care	$52,029	$44,616
Total Cost	$152,862	$178,945
The charts represent the cost of raising one child to age 18, (child care costs to age 11), based on a one child family, both parents working. For a second child subtract 24%. For third and subsequent children subtract another 23%. Canadian figures are taken from Cost of Raising a Child: 1999, Manitoba Agriculture, health care costs include Manitoba's Medicare premiums. US figures, excluding childcare, are from Expenditures on Children by Families, 1999 Annual Report, United States Department of Agriculture. US childcare figures are based on Who’s is Minding the Kids? US Census Bureau.

What do YOU think?

• Have you got reason to think Canadians or Americans have the edge in terms of the cost of raising kids?
• Do you know of studies or comparisons that have been done on this subject?
• Are there other elements that should be considered?

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